Grand Opening of the Nation's Most Authentic Victorian Gardens

People in Victorian Costume at Brodsworth Hall English Heritage is celebrating the end of a 15 year project to restore the magnificent gardens at Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
This successful undertaking has helped revive one of the nation’s most authentic Victorian gardens, first laid out in the 1860s. 

When conservation work began in 1990, the 15 acre grounds had largely vanished under a jungle of overgrown vegetation, making the revival bid a Herculean task. But years of neglect had a silver lining, with the structure of the gardens virtually unaltered, offering gardeners a unique opportunity to span the decades.  Together with historical experts and curators, they have toiled to unravel the grand design, clear overgrown areas, re-plant 19th-century species and restore paths and garden structures.

The result is a vibrant tapestry featuring fussy flower beds, exotic fern dell, rock garden and plants from across the globe, all harking back to the gardens’ 19th-century heyday. A £250,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund three years ago helped accelerate the work.

Brodsworth Hall was built in the 1860s and the gardens developed around the house. It was a grand garden in miniature. The family who owned Brodsworth, the Thellussons, whilst wealthy, were not part of the upper echelon of English aristocracy. But this didn’t stop them trying to impress in the same manner as the grand families of the day.  The gardens had all the trappings of a  stately home, including summer house, pleasure grounds, a fernery, rock garden, formal bedding, statues, an Italianate fountain and topiary, but all on a more intimate scale. Today’s gardens reclaim that heritage, rich in contrasting styles, reflecting 19th-century fashions.