Wollerton Old Hall Garden

Autumn visit to a beautiful garden

The enjoyment of Wollerton Old Hall Garden starts as you approach the ticket office. You walk along a gently curving path, lined with trees, shrubs and some of the many colourful salvias.

As you look straight ahead the view of the 16th century timber framed hall appears.

Symmetrical flattened domes of box either side of the front door, are complemented by a stunning display of plants in pots, reminiscent of the doorway at Great Dixter.

The exuberant colours coming mainly from dahlias, of which there are 65 varieties in their collection. At the ticket office is a poster telling you about their plant of the week. As it’s September it is of course the dahlia.

Walking through two of the enormous half barrels overflowing with white hydrangeas and annuals. You pass by the hall on your right, which is not open to the public. And the tea room on your left, offering extremely good homemade food.

Resisting the temptation to stop just yet, you continue down a pathway lined with pots of hostas. Reaching a gateway offering a tantalising glimpse into the first of the 16 garden rooms.

Introducing you to Wollerton

Woolerton Old Hall garden is in North East Shropshire. This is a beautiful rural county of rolling hills and patchwork fields. Driving down country lanes at this time of year you’re surrounded by fields of ripe maize.

John and Lesley Jenkins bought the hall, back in 1983. They began developing the gardens from scratch in 1984. The hall had been Lesley’s childhood home.

It is not a particularly large garden at almost four acres. It could easily be viewed in 1-2 hours. But this would miss the opportunity to sit on the many benches, soaking up the large array of plants and many design ideas. Not to mention missing out on refreshments.

The garden has a real ‘Arts and Crafts’ feel to it, but with a modern twist. The design allows you to wander at will, from one garden room to another, with no definite route.

All rooms are connected by pathways abundantly planted with perennials, using beech, oak and yew for structure. As you re-enter rooms from a different direction you observe things you missed the first time around.

Whichever way you look there are wonderful vistas. You are almost spoiled for choice as to which way to go next. Partial views through gateways, arches and arbours tease you, willing you on.

A few Favourites

I’ll walk you through a few of my favourite parts, knowing that you will want to come and see the rest for yourselves.

As you pass through that tempting gateway on the left of the hall, you enter:

The Old Garden

Apparently this garden has been recreated numerous times due to box blight, but you wouldn’t know it, as it feels well established.

You walk between two rows of lollipopped laurel trees, interspersed with clematis covered obelisks. Clematis are one of the reoccurring plants in the garden with 125 varieties.

The Lower Rill

With immaculate topiary box domes, pink hydrangeas and grasses, the lower rill is light and airy.

Sit for a moment on one of the first of many benches, and relax to the sound of water as it trickles through from the upper rill. The channel widens in the centre to create a small pond, with marginal plants.

When you are ready to wander again take a closer look in the rills as they are alive with water boatmen.

The Sundial Garden

Passing through the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style gates, which are so in-keeping with the design, you enter the sundial garden. The sundial is surrounded by grass paths and borders softly planted with roses, phlox and asters, in a colour palette mainly of pinks and purples.

After taking in the scent of the various roses, the old summerhouse in the corner is so cosy you feel you could settle there for the day!

Lanhydrock Garden

Named after the National Trust garden at Lanhydrock in Cornwall. This garden is an explosion of mainly hot colours, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

You just want to stand and drink in all of the wonderful colours. Reds from roses and tall lobelia, yellows from Ligularis ‘Desdemona’, rudbeckia and Achillea. Orange variegated Canna ‘Pretoria’, Kniphofia and Heleniums, and blues from the Asters and Agapanthus. To mention just a few…..

Listening to some of the comments from other visitors, this is a well deserved favourite spot in the garden.

The Well Garden

The focal point that draws you in, is a limestone wellhead, filled to the brim with water. But the stars of this garden are the immaculately trimmed fifteen foot tall yew pyramids.

It had the feel of a secret garden from a children’s book, and I found myself wanting to play hide and seek.

The Upper Rill

This for me is the pièce de résistance! The design is simple and understated, and works perfectly.

Immediately on entering, there’s a feeling of complete calm and tranquillity. Unlike the lower rill which is open and sunny, this feels enclosed and intimate due to the two lines of hornbeams towering above.

The next layer down is created by 5 extra-large pots on each side with white oakleaf hydrangeas. Continuing down to a line of smaller pots with white petunias, and finally the now familiar (immaculately trimmed) flattened box domes, creating fabulous reflections in the water.

Simplistic perfection!

Wollerton Old Hall, is a garden that will fill you with design ideas, and somewhere you will want to come back to again and again. A plant lovers dream.

It is no surprise that the lovely Chris Beardshore named it as one of his favourite gardens.

The garden featured on Great British Gardens with Carol Klein, on Monday 5th July 2021 on Channel 5. Filmed over the course of a year, the hour long programme looks at the garden throughout the four seasons. If you missed it, you’ll be able to catch up with it on My5.