Visiting Clumber Park is one of those days out where the minute you arrive, you just know it’s going to be brilliant. We’ve been meaning to visit for such a long time and we finally managed it over the bank holiday weekend.
Covering over 3,800 acres of parkland, heath and woods in North Nottinghamshire, Clumber Park was once the country estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. The original house is no longer there but there are lots of other historical features on the park to explore, such as a Gothic-style chapel, a pleasure ground, a lake and a Discovery Centre which tells the story of the park.
It sounds ridiculous but we really weren’t prepared for the scale of this place; it’s huge. It’s a couple of miles in the car from the entrance to the main visitor area, passing a beautiful bridge and riverbank along the way – perfect for a nature walk with the kids.
We spent most of our time exploring the beautiful walled kitchen garden with the super-knowledgeable Jane. Occupying 4 acres, the garden would have originally provided fresh fruit, veg and cut flowers for the house on the estate. It’s positioned rather cleverly too, facing south-east rather than south. This creates more variety of temperatures on the heat-retaining walls, increasing the scope to influence what you can grow and how fast.
The huge runner bean structures make good use of the willow cuttings from elsewhere on the estate
Rhubarb as far as the eye can see; the garden has 130 varieties
Pumpkin tunnel – saves lots of space and looks brilliant
While the garden would have been primarily a working garden, designed to provide the house with food, areas of it would still have been enjoyed by the nobility. The main path from the glasshouse to the Cedar Avenue beyond boasts a beautiful 400ft herbaceous border and there is also a separate rose garden.
Salvia
Achillea
Dahlia
Rudbeckia
Nowadays the garden is focused on re-discovering and growing the varieties of vegetables and fruit originally grown here – using resources like records kept by previous head gardeners and even old labels found in the borders. Produce from the garden is sold in the on-site shops and at special events hosted throughout the year. It’s hard to believe that the whole garden is cared for by just three full-time staff plus seasonal and volunteer help.
Espaliered apple tree
The garden’s glasshouse is nothing less than enormous – the longest cared for by the National Trust in fact. This would have originally been heated by hot water pipes under the floor, but is now mostly unheated and home to an impressive variety of tomatoes, peppers, soft fruit and grapevines.
For me there’s something very special about walled gardens. I think it’s all that lovely old brickwork, the sense of a self-contained, private outdoor space, and the whispers of the past that you find everywhere you look. Clumber Park’s walled garden definitely has a real atmosphere about it, it’s wonderfully calm and manages to feel both grand and welcoming at the same time.
Love the informal sweet pea supports
In a day’s visit we only just scratched the surface of what Clumber Park has to offer and we’ll definitely be returning to explore it more. It’s a great place for a family bike ride or woodland walk, it’s worth knowing that you can hire bikes on-site too. There’s also a Discovery Centre focusing on the local wildlife, which would be a big hit with the children. We’re already planning our next visit, I suspect it might coincide with the halloween celebrations as the kids were completely enthralled by the size of the pumpkins there!
Visit the Clumber Park website for more information on opening times, facilities and events.
Thanks to the staff at Clumber Park for hosting us on our visit.
Looks lovely, especially the little waterfall. We live only 10 mins away, should really take a look.
Oh wow I never knew there were so many types of rhubarb. This place doesn’t only look absolutely stunning but it sounds fascinating too. The pictures of the water are so beautiful. It’s great that you got to explore it with someone so knowledgeable. Thank you so much for linking this to #whatevertheweather. x
I could have spent all day by the little waterfall alone, there’s so much to see there. It made such a difference having an expert with us in the garden – I asked so many questions, so did the kids!
A beautiful walled garden. I haven’t been in many walled gardens, but those that I have visited have that old world charm and I like to imagine I’m back in time. I’m amazed by the amount of veg they have growing there, puts my little veg patch to shame! Definitely need to try some more vertical gardening next year, loving the pumpkin idea!
Thanks very much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
Yes the scale of the place made me feel like my little patch was tiny too – and also very messy! I’d love to try the pumpkin tunnel thing, I need to start salvaging bits of wood ready for next year.
What an inspirational place! It puts our little veggie patch to shame too! #CountryKids
Any veggie patch is a good thing, no matter how small or unruly 🙂
Just like you I adore a walled garden and this one looks super impressive, the red brick and the height are really impressive and it looks large enough to take the wall height too. 3800 acres is enormous, when i think of how much it takes to manage Coombe Mill with just 30 acres, I know they must need a team of grounds people for the task. Your photos are stunning, I would love to spend time in a place like this with my camera and try to capture some of the beauty as you have. I hope you do return for Halloween, I’d love to see what they put on for the children, it might give me some new ideas for Coombe Mill! Thank you for sopping by and linking up on Country Kids.
You’re right, the garden is big enough to handle the amount of walls. I could have spent the whole day in there quite easily, I do love it when you find a place that has so much to see you need to return. We’re definitely planning another trip for Halloween, will keep you posted!
oh wow! sounds like you got to go back. again. again.and again. beautiful shots
That’s definitely my plan!
I’m a huge fan of walled gardens – there’s just something so evocative of days gone past. What do they do with all the fruit and vegetable they grow? If Clumber Park was near us I’d be going back and back again.
The fruit & veg are sold in the on-site shops, they had some fabulous beetroot for sale when we were there – as well as lots of plants, so tempting!
Wow, it is absolutely stunning! I adore walled gardens and the herbaceous border is beautiful. And, that pumpkin tunnel, how cool 🙂 Gorgeous photos of your visit x #hdygg
I felt rather grand strolling along the herbaceous border – even whilst wearing walking boots 😉
Yes, there’s definitely something about walled gardens. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have our own kitchen gardens just like that!?!? #hdygg
Yes it would be amazing, I think working in one is probably my dream job!
Walled kitchen gardens keep popping up in hdygg – I really need to visit some. It looks like this place has something for everyone which is nice. I quite fancy a picnic on the riverbank overlooking that bridge…
I’ve become a bit addicted to kitchen gardens since having an allotment, they’re so inspirational – and usually an incentive to go home and do some weeding too…
Clumber Park is one of our regular haunts. The apple and rhubarb days in the Walled Kitchen Garden are brilliant with so much to do and of course eat!
I thought those days sounded fab, the kids loved the idea of pressing their own apple juice. I think it may be a regular haunt of ours now too – maybe we’ll bump into you there! 🙂
130 varieties of rhubarb? When can I tuck in?!
I do love a walled garden and kitchen garden even more so. Always so interesting to discover what’s growing.
I woo would fancy a picnic on the river bank if it wasn’t for that menacing looking swan *swan fear*
I’ve heard plenty of good things this year about Clumber Park, if I even get along that way I’ll be sure to visit!
Thanks for joining in again Catherine x
I’m chuckling at swan fear, I have a similar thing with geese after a fateful picnic – these swans were nice and calm though. It would be a great place for a hdygg meet up actually, one day!
Oh my goodness – another walled garden on HDYGG – more dream fodder for me! And that greenhouse – just look at that greenhouse. Wow!
We’re all rather fond of them aren’t we?!
I am big into walled gardens, I love looking at the neat rows and getting ideas for new varieties to grow. I would love to have that job of looking through old gardening records, I used to work looking through old wildlife note books from amateur naturalists and it was amazing poring over the pages of details of the seasons and nature logged. Very geeky!
I’ve seen a pumpkin arch somewhere too and must, must do one next year with munchkin pumpkins.
That sounds like a dream job to me! I’ve just googled munchkin pumpkins and now I have to grow them next year too 🙂
wow i had no idea there were at least 130 varieties of rhubarb
Me neither! It was a world apart from my little rhubarb patch at the allotment.