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March - May, September & October: 9am - 5pm
June - August: 9am - 7pm
November - February: 10am - 4pm (closed 24th & 25th December)
Special rates are available to pre-booked groups of 20+ people, with incentives for coach drivers and group organisers, FREE coach parking and the option of a special tour by Nick Hamilton
All-year round.
39 individually designed gardens.
Summer (March - October): Adults £7.50; Concessions £6.50; Children £3.50; Family (2 Adults + 3 Children) £21.
Winter (November - February): Adults £6; Concessions £5; Children £2.50; Family (2 Adults + 3 Children) £14.
Group rate: Daytime Adults/Concession £5.50, Children £2.50. Evening Adults/Concession £7.50, Children £2.50
Guide dogs allowed. Reservable Wheelchairs. A year-round menu of courses and events including Summer Sundays FREE family activities, including country crafts and cookery demonstrations, wildlife events and more. Visit www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk for details. For children, wildlife and bird watching, and a FREE themed garden trail with quizzes and coloring. Crafts events, live music and painting and photography classes. Private functions of all kinds: weddings and receptions, parties, corporate entertainment, room hire. Bespoke tours by owner Nick Hamilton. Reservable parking spaces, in the shade and with water bowls, for visiting pets.
39 individually designed gardens. Extensive nursery and sales of quality plants and gifts for garden-lovers. Featured on Geoff Hamilton's Gardeners' World programme.
Fox and Hounds, Exton
Oakham, Stamford
Barnsdale Gardens is a joy to visit; 39 themed gardens, ponds and woodlands nestled in a quiet corner of the beautiful Rutland countryside, but just 10 minutes from Stamford and the A1. Made famous by Geoff Hamilton and the BBC's Gardeners' World, it is Britain's largest collection of individually designed gardens, and whether your interests include gardening, photography or simply a stroll in the sunshine with a great lunch in our friendly tea room, there is something for everyone.
The enormous variety of planting styles at Barnsdale has been likened to a 'theme park for gardeners' and visitors will recognise many of the famous TV garden 'sets'; the Cottage Gardens with their compost bins disguised as beehives; the Reclaimed Garden with its recycled rose fountain and the serene Paradise Gardens which were Geoff's last projects. Added to these are new developments such as the Lands' End Colour Garden and the fun-filled Children's Garden, plus a large nursery specialising in quality, unusual plants.
Familiar to millions of BBC2 viewers, Barnsdale was the home of Geoff Hamilton, Gardeners' World's popular presenter from 1983 to 1996 who was voted 'Britain's Favourite Television Gardener'. He championed many good causes, in particular organic gardening and the use of peat-free alternatives, and today the garden is still totally run on Geoff's organic principles by his son Nick.
Historically the gardens were created as a facility by which Geoff could instruct, inform and entertain viewers every Friday night and these three principles are still very much the vision the Barnsdale team work to. But the capabilities of this wonderful garden have been extended further and Barnsdale now offers weddings, corporate functions and bespoke tours.
Thirty years ago this remarkable site was little more than a ploughed field and since then tens of thousands of visitors, gardeners and non-gardeners alike, have come to marvel at this fantastic work of gardening art. Now Nick Hamilton continues the work started by his father, ensuring that the gardens, although constantly evolving, always retain that 'Barnsdale' feel.