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Please check with garden owners or their website to confirm current dates open
2nd May - 29th Aug; Sun & BH Mon only;1pm - 5pm. (Gardens & Falconry Centre)
Gardens only also open Sundays in Apr & Sept.
For house tours for groups of 25+ Also for Corporate bookings.
Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th May (Holdenby Garden Show), Sunday 29th and Monday 30th August (Holdenby Food Show). 12noon to 5pm
May & June
Gardens & Falconry Centre, May - Aug. Adults £5, Child £3.50, Concessions £4.50, Family (2+2) £15.
Apr & Sept: Adults £3, Child £2, Concessions £2.50, Family (2+2) £8.
Private Tours: For group parties at weekends, £6.50 pp with min. total of £160. Tea/coffee with cake @£2.50 pp. Call for details and booking.
Falconry Centre, 17th Century farmstead. Play area. Licensed for Weddings. Plants available occasionally. Holdenby Garden and Home Show sponsored by Haddonstone : Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th May Northamptonshire's Holdenby Food Show : Sunday 29th and Monday 30th August
Broomhill Hotel, (01604 845959)
Red Lion, East Haddon, (01604 770223)
Very near to Althorp Northampton
Positioned high on a hill overlooking rural Northamptonshire, the view from the garden lawns with extensive yew hedging is stunning. The miniature Elizabethan garden was planned by gardening expert Mrs Rosemary Verey in 1980, using only plants available in the 1580's, the time the palace was completed. Its shape is copied from the centrepiece of Sir Christopher Hatton's garden.
The croquet lawn is sunk into the foundations of the West Wing of Sir Christopher Hatton's great Palace, demolished in the 1650's.
King Charles' Walk, once part of the old garden, is now incorporated into the new garden. It recalls the period of Charles l's imprisonment at Holdenby in 1647 before his execution by Parliament. Tradition has it that this was his favourite part of the original Elizabethan garden.
The Tous Tous border has survived from the Victorian period. Recently redesigned by Rupert Golby, this border contains plants chosen for their scent.
The Silver border hosts a wide range of silver and grey foliage plants collected and constantly added to by the current owner, Mr James Lowther.
There are not one, but two gardens at Holdenby. The 'inner' or new garden is contained within the remains of the early Palace at Holdenby and contains both the Victorian garden and a 20th century garden which includes a re-creation, in miniature, of the Elizabethan original.
The second is the older or 'outer garden'; the original Elizabethan garden which is still visible as you walk around the grounds. This is, indeed, the best preserved evidence in Britain of a garden of this period. You can trace the shape of the 16th century terraces and the outline of the vast Palace that Sir Christopher Hatton built in 1583. The house is Grade II*