Hatfi eld House Hatfi eld House GREAT GARDEN VISITS HATFIELD HOUSE Visiting the gardens of this famous house in Hertfordshire is akin to a stroll through the history of gardening » Author: Phil Clayton, Features Editor, The Garden. Photography: Neil Hepworth

The West Parterre dates from 1902 and is dominated by the spectacular Jacobean edi ice. Contained by a yew hedge, itself enveloped within a pleached lime walk, the garden features a central fountain and a formal layout of beds, lavishly planted with shrubs and perennials. Purple and blue tones dominate with alliums, roses and iris among the many choice plants.»

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alk on a summer’s day in the medieval Great Park of Hatfi eld House in Hertfordshire, amid the deer and ancient pollarded oaks, and the famous scene is easily imagined:W the young Elizabeth Tudor resting below one of these very trees, unaware her destiny has been fulfi lled and she is now Queen of England. At Hatfi eld it feels as if history is the mortar that binds the place together. If she did sit below it (in fact she succeeded to the throne in November) the actual tree is long gone, and with it the original gardens in which Elizabeth enjoyed much of her childhood. No original Tudor gardens survive; by nature gardens grow and evolve, often beyond all recognition. What makes today’s gardens at Hatfi eld important is that they show distinct elements that encompass virtually the full progression of gardening styles, from medieval to modern day. Many areas are representations, rather than Hatfi eld garden history survivors or faithful re-creations of the historic gardens ✤ 1485: Old Palace constructed ✤ 1830s: Woodland Garden started. (now lost below layers of later layouts), but they have by John Morton, Bishop of Ely. ✤ 1830s–1840s: Terraces around been created to evoke the same feel and character. ✤ 1538: Hat ield acquired by the house built and gardens largely A visit here is like taking a stroll through history. Much Henry VIII as a home for his children. restored by 2nd Marquess. of what we see is due to the Dowager Marchioness of ✤ 1558: Elizabeth I told, while living ✤ 1841: Maze planted. Salisbury, who gardened here for more than 30 years until at Hat ield, she is Queen of England. ✤ 1902: West Parterre created. 2003 when her son, the 7th Marquess, and his wife began Palace Knot Garden ✤ Robert Cecil acquires ✤ East Parterre formalised; Set on low ground, this Tudor-style garden is 1607: 1970s: the next chapter in the evolution of this great estate. estate; completes the house in 1611 ‘hedges on stilts’ added. a masterpiece of clipped form with box and hawthorn hedging softened by plants known to and employs John Tradescant the ✤ 1984: Palace Knot Garden made. have been grown in the UK before 1700. It has a Elder to acquire new plants. ✤ 1987: Kitchen Garden begun. Hatfi eld today peaceful, contemplative feel. The gently tinkling ✤ 1700s: Formal gardens mostly ✤ 2011: Sundial Garden created to “ e gardens at Hatfi eld are undeniably huge. “ ey cover central fountain with its golden cherub holds a swept away in the fashion for celebrate 400 years of the Cecil 18ha (45 acres) radiating out from the splendid Jacobean surprise – a trumpet that sounds in the wind. landscape gardening. family at Hat ield. house that crowns the site, forming a magnifi cent, if dominating backdrop to the gardens on three sides, lofty

towers and chimneys standing proud. To the northwest, on lower ground, is a remaining wing of the Old Palace. “ ere is much in these gardens to appreciate. “ e grounds are partitioned by hedges, banks and avenues of trees. “ ese formal elements abound; stiff topiary, tightly clipped hedges and pleached lime walks are maintained impeccably, yet the rigidity on show contrasts with more relaxed elements. Grass is left to grow long and is spangled with wildfl owers, such as ox-eye daisies, cow parsley and yellow rattle, a cohesive theme that holds the diff ering areas together. Relaxed perennial planting, as in the Blue and White Borders of the new Sundial Garden, builds on this and, despite the size, many areas feel human, restful and, in places, surprisingly intimate. 1 “ e West Gardens A love of plants seems to be a trait of the Cecil family. Robert Cecil, the fi rst Earl of Salisbury who built the house in 1611, employed John Tradescant the Elder to fi ll his garden with plants new to UK cultivation, and recent generations have continued the trend. “ is is evident in East Parterre grandeur Early summer in the West Parterre the West Parterre, of Edwardian design, with planting Formal structure with natural beauty Steps from the terrace with its wisteria-smothered The globes of Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ rise with Aquilegia, Geranium and from the 1980s. A large square garden to the west of the A mix of formal elements with natural areas is part of Hatfield’s charm. This is seen balustrade lead to a parterre with Iris and Papaver Papaver orientale ‘Patty’s Plum’. The purple theme is further enhanced by moody Cotinus house, it is enclosed by a yew hedge, entrances marked in the Palace Knot Garden, its bower of honeysuckle below a grassy bank, pleached orientale (Goliath Group) ‘Beauty of Livermere’. coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, but white Aquilegia and silver Stachys provide vital contrast. limes atop (above left) or a hornbeam avenue beside meadow grass (above right). with bold yew fi nials. “ e whole area is within a »

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with buttressed spires of topiary box in the centre of Interesting planting ideas each, dividing each bed into four. Within are bulbs, Palace 1 The classic combination of roses and catmint is made perennials and shrubs – masses of tulips bloom in spring Knot even more appealing when Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ Garden Kitchen Garden New blends with a dainty selection of Rosa pimpinellifolia before peonies (herbaceous and various tree types), roses, Pond (Scotch rose), seen together in the East Parterre. bearded iris and many more take on the display. Pillars of 2 Sundial West In the West Parterre, Allium hollandicum ‘Purple yew stand in the centre while on either side are ‘hedges Garden Parterre Sensation’ and a froth of white Astrantia soften the statuesque silvery form of a young Onopordum on stilts’ - clipped avenues of bare-stemmed Quercus ilex. acanthium (Scotch thistle) – an appealing combination South Below the East Parterre the ground drops away; beyond for a sunny, well-drained, but not too dry position. Courtyard Maze Swimming Woodland Pool Garden is the Maze, a sturdy aff air of yew with a topiary lion at its Garden East Parterre heart. Below that is the elegant Swimming Pool Garden N with its simple avenues of quince and yew hedges, Visiting details complete with integrated ‘changing rooms’. It has a clean, Address Hat ield House, Hat ield, Hertfordshire AL9 5NQ. Art Deco feel; like something from a fi lm set. 01707 287010. Tel: „ e New Pond (more of a lake) dates from when the Website: www.hat ield-house.co.uk Garden open: 30 Mar–29 Sept; house was built. „ is is a magical area, for around grow West Gardens: Tues–Sun & Bank Holidays; 10am–5pm. multitudes of wildfl owers; yellow rattle and various East Gardens: Wed only; 11am–5pm. House: Wed–Sun & Bank Holidays 12pm–5pm: orchids abound, while below the trees on the far side restaurant and shops on site. 1 2 Facilities: bloom masses of Queen Anne’s lace, just as bluebells and naturalised Narcissus fade. Wildfl owers were encouraged here from the 1980s and are a linking element, not only pleached lime walk, a surviving 18th-century feature. Santolina and even hawthorn, a greater range than usually between today’s gardens but recalling the fl owery mead In the centre is a pool with fountain, and arranged seen. Plants here were carefully chosen; most are known to associated with Hatfi eld’s lost early gardens. formally about are borders. It has a tranquil air, colour- have been grown before 1700 and include Rosa x richardii, „ e sense of history at Hatfi eld is tangible, for in layers co-ordinated blues, pinks and mauves dominating. In a rose of great antiquity with single soft pink fl owers, and below what we see today lie the aspirations of successive early summer, Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ is dark red Paeonia mascula. generations. Listen and you might almost hear the eff ective against emerging shoots of sultry Rosa glauca, At Hatfi eld the grandeur of the set-piece gardens is never whispers of those gardeners who once laboured here. while massed Aquilegia, early Astrantia and Geranium overpowering as there is always somewhere to off set any Not all is quite authentic, but as a whole it allows us to provide vibrant colour. Clumps of Fritillaria imperialis severity. „ e Woodland Garden features plants introduced see the progression of our great gardening heritage. (crown imperial) produce drooping bells of orange or by great plant collectors in the 19th century; collections of yellow; elsewhere blue and mauve iris and lemon Paeonia trees such as Magnolia and Malus, and shrubs – especially mlokosewitschii rise above pools of silver Stachys. Later rhododendrons and camellias – fl ourish here, while in roses, Dianthus and Penstemon continue the fi re power spring bluebells and narcissus fl ower below. Grass grows through summer. One of the most impressive plants here long in summer, wildfl owers abounding in the cool shade. is Cynoglossum nervosum. „ is borage relative is a great A perennial, reaching 60cm (24in) and forming a low South and East gardens clump. It produces masses of slightly drooping racemes „ e most impressive approach to Hatfi eld is from the south B of azure-blue fl owers and in the West Parterre is used to Sundial where the full majesty of the building’s architecture can great eff ect during early summer. be admired. Flanking the drive is a grand box parterre, created after the traditions of formal 17th-century gardens Tudor traditions Garden such as Vaux le Vicomte in France. Planted in the 1990s Alastair Gunn, „ e best-known area is probably the Palace Knot Garden. and completed in 1998, it replaced a pair of circular Head Gardener, on Part of its success is that it is constructed on low ground, lavender-edged beds, which in turn succeeded a French- planting in the Blue bounded by grassy banks studded with cowslips, snake’s and White Borders. style parterre, fi lled in Victorian times with exotic bedding. head fritillaries and Lilium martagon, and is viewed from These twin borders „ e drive leads to the (private) South Courtyard, a sun- above (knot gardens were made to be seen in this way). are part of the Sundial Garden, baked piazza with a near-Mediterranean feel. Borders It also feels like a defi ned, discrete area. Flanked by the one of the newest areas at against the house walls are fi lled with plants that enjoy a C weathered bricks of the Old Palace, the garden so perfectly Hat ield, and are e ective due bask in the sun, including unusually wall-trained Magnolia evokes the feel of what we think of as a Tudor garden, it is to repetition of key plants and denudata and a fi ne old collection of tree peonies. D hard to believe it was made in 1984, replacing an old rosary. the colour theme. Quince trees To the east lies an elegant Italianate terrace; edged with and Pittosporum provide „ e framework is of box, and consists of three knots and statuary and balustrades, it ably links the house to the structure, while in early summer a foot maze arranged around a central fountain, with a garden. A lovely feature is the stone double staircase that Delphinium (a family favourite) gilded cherub blowing a trumpet that sounds if the wind such as ‘Summer ield Oberon’ descends to the East Parterre below. „ e time-worn walls Silver and blue in the West Parterre blows strongly. Particularly lovely are arbours of scented and lupins, including Lupinus retaining the terrace are clothed with plants, including a The colour-themed borders of the West Parterre are filled honeysuckle, placed at opposite sides of the garden. „ e ‘The Governor’, mingle with pale rampageous Wisteria sinensis and prolifi c Abutilon with inspiring combinations. Soft blue Iris ‘Snow Cloud’ A site is a suntrap and on a warm day the distinctive smell yellow wall lower Erysimum vitifolium producing showers of mauve blooms. blends well with a navy-blue seedling of Aquilegia B which is encircled by a silver mat of Stachys byzantina C . of box is memorable. I was also taken with the many cheiri ‘White Dame’ and blue iris. „ e parterre itself was designed to be seen from the In the foreground is superb, azure-blue-flowered perennial plants grown as clipped form; box, yew, holly, Phillyrea, fi rst fl oor of the house, and features 16 box-edged beds Cynoglossum nervosum D .

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