A note from Trevor Nicholson, Head Gardener, Harewood House Trust

The gardens team at Harewood are responsible for maintaining over 100 acres of beautiful Grade 1 listed gardens, grounds and woodlands. From the elaborate colour schemes, flower borders and fountains on the Victorian terrace gardens, to the naturalistic planting around the lakeside and in the Himalayan garden, the team and I work extremely hard to ensure that every space is not only looking its best, but also being planned and developed to eventually reach its full potential.

The Victorian parterre, on the south front of the house, is the jewel-in-the-crown among Harewood’s well-known gardens. With over a mile of box hedging clipped into an intricate pattern and filled with thousands of seasonal plants and bulbs, this formal garden takes a great deal of precision and care to maintain. At this time of year, Tom and Harry, the terrace gardeners, are busy pruning, dead-heading and weeding, as well as implementing a programme of turf improvements in preparation for the winter months. The tall hornbeam hedges have been clipped and, in the coming few weeks, we will start lifting and dividing tender plants in the herbaceous borders, moving them to other parts of the gardens and making way for the planting of thousands of tulips.

The Archery Border, situated at the foot of the terrace wall, is in its prime at this time of year. The south facing aspect coupled with the 15ft high sandstone wall provides the right environment for growing a range of exotic and tender plants. The hot colour scheme for late summer interest includes Mediterranean and tropical plants, and is a bold and vibrant display. We’ve just a visit from two gardeners from Kew who have written to me describing the Archery Border as being still “amazing!” at this time of year. The twelve-foot-high giant Dahlia (D. imperialis), flowering gingers, red hot pokers and Mexican sunflowers, as well as the ‘Devil’s Tobacco’ (Lobelia tupa) are all making the most the mild conditions of early autumn.

The bridge was added in 2006 to increase paths through the garden and offering new views of the area.

The Himalayan Garden is one of my personal favourites; I have spent more than twenty years researching Chines and Himalayan plants and sympathetically developing this charming and tranquil garden. Helen, the gardener who maintains this area, is busy weeding the primula glades ready for new planting to be incorporated for spring colour. These boggy areas are being enriched annually, and with the candelabra primulas in late May and early June creating a vivid carpet of colour alongside the waterfall and stream, it’s a wonderfully vibrant display, which I would recommend visiting every year.

Beyond the formal gardens, Harewood is also home to an historic Walled Garden. It may not be widely known that the Walled Garden was in fact one of the first structures Edwin Lascelles had built when setting about constructing the Harewood you see today. Built in stages from 1755, a couple of years before the first stones were laid for the house, the warm red brick walls are worlds away from the formal Terraces many of our visitors are so familiar with.

At the time, the Walled Garden, with its double-brick ‘hot’ walls, was cutting edge cultivation technology. The desire to have soft fruits and exotic foods out of season, which was at the height of Victorian fashion at county houses like Harewood, which would host lavish dinners with grapes, figs, and melons normally only grown in warmer, European climates.

The enclosed space with high walls acts perfectly as a suntrap, literally! The south-western angle of Harewood’s Walled Garden captures the sun’s rays, warming the soil quickly to create perfect growing conditions for fruit, vegetables and flowers. They also act as protection from wildlife such as deer, and as a visual barrier between the designed landscape and the functionally arranged spaces necessary for intensive production.

Spanning an acre of land, the Walled Garden currently houses twelve plots and a fruit orchard, all of which is maintained by Jen, our gardener, along with Tom, our new horticulture apprentice from Askham Bryan College. The mixed flowers and vegetable beds create a strong visual impact as you arrive through the old wooden door.

Cabbages are grown in the Walled Garden at Harewood

This year, the harvest has been particularly good. The warm weather has created a long growing season, and with high soil temperatures has supported bountiful yields of such things as potatoes and brassicas.

Before Harewood closes to the public on October 30^th, visitors should come and see the beautiful dahlias in full bloom and enjoy the wonderful orchard bearing autumnal fruits. The late tender and hardy perennials are looking great too.

Across the entire gardens, we are also turning our attention towards our spring bulb planting schemes. It’s a huge undertaking each year which is made possible with the help of many of our garden volunteers. I am busy designing new tulip schemes for the Terrace, daffodil glades along the lakeside and bluebells for the woodlands.
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Maintaining this wonderful space is a real privilege and one that we enjoy sharing with our visitors. We hope that you can join us and enjoy the last of the autumnal summer sun.

A huge amount of work has been going on behind the scenes this winter and I am very much hoping it will bring some excellent, new things for you to see and do in the coming season. There has been so much change. Read on!

As 2016 marks the tercentenary of the birth of Capability Brown, we will be opening up the South Front to allow you to see the House and parkland from a different perspective. You will be able to have a closer look at the foundations of Gawthorpe Hall, the medieval manor which pre-dates Harewood House.

The House itself is naturally one of the best viewing platforms to see Brown’s amazing work. We will be making sure this is well interpreted through a series of exhibitions and displays providing both a historical and contemporary context. Please see inside for more details.

The House has been very busy over the winter period hosting a large ITV production. Filming is an important part of our income and we will have updates about what we’ve been working on this winter soon.

We have begun a three year programme of development in the Bird Garden which will re-launch this much loved area of Harewood.. We are developing a Himalayan theme within the bird collection and plan to introduce several bird species from the region later this season. This will sit very closely with the many plants, trees and shrubs that can be seen in our own Himalayan Garden. Alongside this work, we are creating a strong education and conservation message to best interpret the birds on display.

Across the wider Estate, Harewood has introduced many successful conservation initiatives. We felt it was important to show you some of these projects through fresh interpretation. Plans are in place to introduce this additional interpretation throughout the season. Restored areas of the Bird Garden will be devoted to indigenous species of birds, mammals and insects. We are also introducing a new minibeast trail too!

Not only will we be portraying our message about British wildlife, but also the importance of conservation worldwide. There will be a strong message about critically endangered species across the globe, and we will be advising visitors about how they can do their bit supporting animal conservation projects. Last but not least, our “old favourites”, the penguins, flamingos, owls and parrots will be better displayed and we will be telling you much more about them.

I hope that this project will create considerable interest and there will be opportunities for everyone, adults and school children, to get involved and engage with the Bird Garden at several levels.

For the first time we will be offering a Farm Experience geared to our younger visitors. There will be rabbits to pet, donkeys, goats and pigs, and maybe even alpacas! Please bring your children and grandchildren to see this exciting new attraction.

Our Visitor Information Centre and Visitor Experience Team are moving from the car park to the eastern side of the Courtyard where it will be co-located with the Gift Shop. The former space occupied by the Gift Shop will become overflow catering space on busy days. The Courtyard will be buzzing with things to see do and eat!

The old Information Centre is being redeveloped into an unmanned satellite Information Point which will be staffed on busy days. A new Yorkshire Dales ice cream kiosk is opening alongside the Yorkshire Larder and we hope that this will be popular with those who wish to picnic and play games on the North Front.

Our boat, The Capability, will be sailing again! Please check our website for details of the sailings.

There is much going on, exhibitions, events, new attractions, our second hand bookshop and last but not least the Adventure Playground. Please see inside this letter for the various details you may want and I really look forward to welcoming you back this year.

The fourth annual Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Harewood opens from Friday 11 September until Sunday 13 September 2015 in The Marquee in the grounds of Harewood House, Harewood, near Leeds in West Yorkshire LS17 9LQ, organised by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited and supported by Knight Frank’s Harrogate office. Antiques Fair ticket holders will have the added advantage of access to Harewood’s grounds and ‘below stairs’, as well as a special ticket price offer to visit the House’s state rooms and current exhibitions, over the three days of the Fair.  Harewood members will receive free entry to the Fair and free parking. Antiques Fair tickets cost £5 each on the door or in advance.

An exquisite array of fine art and antiques will be for sale, including silver, antiquities, jewellery and watches, paintings, clocks and barometers, glass, traditional and country furniture, books, English and Continental ceramics, contemporary and 19th century sculpture, objets d’art and much more. The majority of the high calibre dealers, convening at The Marquee at Harewood from around the country, are members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association or LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers, the two main UK bodies governing the antiques trade.

Local silver dealers, Jack Shaw & Co from Ilkely offers a wide selection of silver, including pieces made in York: a set of three Victorian meat dishes, £6,750, a seal top spoon, c1650, £1,875 and a George III cruet set, £2,250.  Malka Levine brings an impressive pair of Sheffield plate wine coolers, c1820, priced at £4,800, as well as a pair of Mappin & Webb silver vases, 1925, with a price tag of £1,200.

Olde Time has a diverse collection of clocks and barometers. One highlight is a cast bronze elephant clock surmounted by a figure blowing a shell, 16½” high, c1860, £12,950, possibly by Miroy Frères, Paris.  The elephant’s trunk is raised, which is a sign of good luck, and it stands on an ormolu rococo base.

TV personality and antiques dealer Mike Melody of Melody Antiques, from Chester, deals in oak country furniture, including a matched set of six ash and elm Lancashire  spindle back chairs, c1830,  priced at £1,495 for the set and a late 19th century Orkney  chair, £975.  S&S Timms Antiques has an exceptionally rare Queen Anne period walnut miniature chest on stand, with original brassware, raised on cabriole legs, c1710, £14,500 and a Queen Anne walnut wing back armchair, c1710, £9,500.

With this being the year commemorating the Battle of Waterloo 200 years ago, a Baccarat crystal glass paperweight of bottle form with a sulphide inclusion of Napoleon, c1840

£1,600 is fitting and to be found on Mark J West’s stand. Jewellery and precious objects from T Robert include an 18ct gold and platinum calibrated emerald, diamond and natural pearl Belle Epoque necklace, c1910, £4,450  and  an exceptional lacquer and multi-gem set Shibiyama double sided table screen, c1880, £1,850. Other jewellery specialists exhibiting include Plaza with designer pieces and Anderson Jones.

Paintings include Owen Bowen’s A Yorkshire Farmhouse, £1,850 from Ashleigh House Fine Art. Bowen (1873-1967) studied at Leeds School of Art and was elected to the Staithes Group in 1904. He painted landscapes in and around Leeds and in Northumberland.  Harry Sutton Palmer’s watercolour of River Ure and Vale of Mowbray near Ripon measures 20¼” x 14½” is priced at £3,800 from Baron Fine Art.

In addition, Tim Phelps of T L Phelps Fine Furniture Restoration will be on hand to advise and show examples of his work. Tim Phelps has worked on restoration of Chippendale furniture at Harewood House.  Advisers from Wilson Mitchell & Co Ltd, a partner practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, will be happy to discuss investments with their clients and other interested visitors.

The Yorkshire Post were here at Harewood today to photogrpah a new rose named ‘Yorkshire Princess’ in honour of HRH Princess Mary. Our Craft Gardener Helen Fletcher is shown with the rose in the Yorkshire Post piece.

We are introducing the new rose called ‘Yorkshire Princess’, dedicated to HRH the Princess Mary, Princess Royal, who lived here at Harewood for more than 30 years, to coincide with our Royal Harewood exhibition in this Diamond Jubilee year, .

Resembling an old-fashioned rose, this beautiful, but modest groundcover or patio rose, has a slight sweet scent, and is white with a delicate Orient Pink centre. Flowering throughout the summer, it is suitable for planting in rockeries, at the front of borders or alongside paths in cottage gardens, and will shortly be planted here at Harewood to commemorate the Princess’s contribution to the Gardens.

Trevor Nicholson, Head Gardener at Harewood House, said: “Princess Mary was a very keen gardener and plantswoman who made a significant impact on the gardens here, introducing many elements of the gardens which our visitors still enjoy today. She was particularly fond of roses and so, to mark this year’s special ‘Royal Harewood’ exhibition, a rose was the ideal way to create a lasting tribute. The pure white petal, soft blush centre and sweet scent give a traditional feel, in-keeping with old-style roses and perfect for a Yorkshire Princess.”

A limited number of Rosa ‘Yorkshire Princess’ will be available to purchase as a containerised shrub from the Harewood plant stall this summer, with new stock arriving in November 2013. You can register your interest by emailing us your contact details, and we’ll send you an update when further stock becomes available.

Bred in Northern Ireland by Dickson Nurseries, it is currently available to pre-order online as a root for potting from their website for delivery in November 2012.

We’ll be officially launching our new rose at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, staged at the Great Yorkshire Showground from 14-16 September, you can call the Ticket hotline on 01423 546157 or visit their website for more details of the show.

Our exhibition, Royal Harewood, celebrating the life of the Princess continues until the end of September.

Explore the gardens for yourself, from the breath-taking Terrace overlooking majestic ‘Capability’ Brown landscape, to the exotic plant hunters’ paradise of the Himalayan Garden and the delightful lakeside and woodland paths to the Walled Garden…

Find out more about the Gardens at Harewood…

The details:

Rosa ‘Yorkshire Princess’ – parentage Nice ‘n’ Easy x Regensberg; breeder Colin Dickson, Dickson Nurseries, Co Down; patio/groundcover; hybridised in 2005; blooms in clusters, white with hint of Orient pink; slight sweet scent; height 66cm, spread 65cm; flowers continuously throughout the summer.

In the UK our wonderful tree heritage is recorded within the Tree Register, a Registered Charity with a unique database of over 150,000 of our most notable Trees.

Recording a veteran oak tree in the grounds of Harewood House

Harewood’s trees are a beautiful and important feature of the landscape which surrounds the House. Following our latest Tree Register Report we can now say we are home to several Champion Trees!

We have a Grand Fir growing in the Lakeside Gardens (SE of the Cascade beside the path towards the Walled Garden) which has been recorded as the tallest in Yorkshire. It is the best the Tree Inspector has ever seen and looks as if it wants to grow a bit taller too!

We also have a rare Japanese oak (planted by Her Majesty Queen Alexandra on 8th July 1908) in the grounds; it is certainly a champion tree for Yorkshire and maybe a Champion Tree for the whole of the British Isles, we’ll wait for final confirmation and update the post here!

Several other trees become County Champions for Yorkshire including:

• Grecian Fir in the West Garden
• Purple Bean Tree south of the Cascade, by the Stupa
• Katsura Tree in the Himalayan Garden
• Leylandii south of the Lake, near the large Sessile Oak
• Eucryphia in the Archery Border which is remarkably large for Yorkshire!
• Japanese Big-leaved Magnolia in the Himalayan Garden
• London Plane in the Bird Garden
• Japanese Cherry beside the path to the Church
• Scarlet Oak on the North Front opposite the House
• Daimyo Oak on the North Front opposite the House

Please note: some trees pictured below are not in areas currently accessible to visitors. Please stay to the marked footpaths and access areas when you visit Harewood.

Estimating the age of a large conifer

Gathering data for the tree register of two ancient oaks four to five centuries old

Measuring the girth of an old ash tree

Recording details of a veteran oak tree at Harewood

Using a hypsometer to measure the height of a tree

Please note: some trees pictured above are not in areas currently accessible to visitors. Please stay to the marked footpaths and access areas when you visit Harewood.

The Scarlet Oak on the North Front is exceeded only by a few in southern England, and the Dawn Redwood south of the lake is a particularly beautiful tree and almost the tallest this far north.

One of our Rhododendronsto the south of the lake is the largest hardy hybrid of any kind the Tree Register Inspector had ever seen!

Harewood is a wonderful place to explore the landscape and spot some of these wonderful trees… A new walks booklet is available from the Harewood Information Centre which will take you on 4 walks of discovery in the Grounds at Harewood…and we hope to produce something similar focussing on the trees at Harewood…watch this space for details!

You can collect a guide to some of the wonderful trees in the West Garden at Harewood during Autumn Glory week (October Half Term) – the trees are at their most colourful and vivid at this time of year…

Read more about the Grounds at Harewood and our Autumn Glory event on our website…