Belsay Hall - Northumberland
Outline history of gardens
Belsay is renowned for and is one of the most extraordinary picturesque garden landscapes these islands possess. The Castle, Hall and Garden are the nucleus of an estate that has belonged to the Middleton family since the 13th century. They lived in the castle until 1817 and from then until 1962 in Belsay Hall. The landscape of the garden is of special interest, with the formal garden by the hall blending into the wild woodland style of the quarries.
The park was created chiefly by Sir William Middleton (1738-95) however, due to his wealth and eccentric personality, Sir Charles Monck (1779-1867) was responsible for much of the gardens seen today. Even before his Hall was finished in 1817 he was collecting plants and working on beautifying the new mansion's surroundings. Sir Charles made a scholarly study of landscape design, which was very fashionable at the time, and his dept to Humphry Repton and the picturesque style can be seen in the landscape we have in guardianship today. Sir Charles' grandson, Sir Arthur Middleton (1838-1933) who succeeded him, followed the theories of the late 19th century writer William Robinson. He retained the garden's main features but added elements of his own including a winter garden and enriched the gardens at Belsay with a great wealth of plants. Now, carefully restored and replanted, these 12 hectare gardens offer natural treasures for all seasons.
Belsay Hall is Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Garden highlights
The landscape divides into formal gardens, near to the house, and the wild gardens beyond. Most remarkable are the romantic quarry gardens on the walk to the castle. All plants are labelled in Latin, and with a common name if one exists.
- A wide platform of formal terraces with symmetrical, ornamental beds edged with stone, with large herbaceous borders full of colourful and unusual plantings.
- The rhododendron garden (not open to the public) can be viewed from the house and the terrace. It contains two acres of hardy hybrids on their own rootstocks which provide a blaze of colour in late May and June.
- The focus of the Winter Garden is a pair of sunken croquet lawns, which are regularly used. Old photographs of the garden show quite tall, loose planting in its borders and this style is now being re-created. The garden has a selection of flowering heaths and heathers, rhododendrons and mahonias.
- The wild flower meadow has a mixture of native and exotic wild flowers naturalised in the turf, including cowslips, woodland cranesbills, orchids, snakes-head fritillaries, camassias and colchicums.
- Quarry garden, Sir Charles quarried the stone with great care to make a series of ravines, corridors and pinnales to create a garden within the hillside, which has its own microclimate where many rare and unusual plants survive.
- Wonderful views over landscaped park, with a massive arcaded ha-ha dividing the gardens from the park beyond.
Rare and unusual plants
This is a plantsman's garden with many rare and exotic plants, trees and shrubs. Many of Sir Arthur Middleton's plantings from the turn of the century remain including, on the terrace, several large Pieris floribunda, Magnolia x thompsoniana and M x weiseneri. Tender plants like cistus enjoy the southerly aspect and there is a formal arrangement of hybrid musk roses.
In the corner of the Winter Garden is a large Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) planted in 1839 to the east of the tennis court. The meadow is fringed with exotic trees among them Magnolia kobus, Cornus kousa, Parrotia persica (the ironwood tree) and some old Japanese cedars (Cryptomeria japonica). By a small pond in the Quarry Gardens, Gunnera manicata with its giant umbrella-shaped leaves can be seen, and in May the powerful scent of Rhododendron fortunei fills the air. In a sheltered corner by the arch stands an old Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), planted around 1852. Lilies flower from mid May through to September, with over 30 species on show. Belsay Hall holds the National Plant Collection of Herbaceous Iris (series spuriae).
Wildlife
Two protected species:
Red squirrels
Brown long-eared bats
One Nationally Scarce species:
The Marsh Fern
Butterflies such as the Peacock (Inachis io) shown here in this picture can also be seen at certain times of the year
For more information on endangered wildlife and habitats visit Natural England.
View further information on Belsay Hall visiting times, facilities, entrance prices and directions.
