************* Garden Owners, Please copy this information and paste it into an email to: wb [at] armchair-travel [dot] com Please make any changes in BRIGHT RED in your email back to us. Regards, Armchair Travel Co Ltd http://www.armchair-travel.com ************* Garden Name: Arley Hall & Gardens Last Modified: 01/02/2010 Garden ID: 0414 pic: 0414_ArleyHall.jpg Owner: Mrs Judy Popley Address: Northwich Postcode: CW9 6NA County: Cheshire tel: 01565 777353 fax: 01565 777465 website: www.arleyhallandgardens.com email: caroline.fearon {at} arleyhallandgardens.com Features: Double herbaceous border reputed to be oldest in England. Award-winning gardens created by generations of the same family. Hall re-built in Jacobean-Victorian style in 1840's is a beautiful family home, used for filming weddings and corporate events. English Heritage Grade: II* Opening Times: 21st Mar - end Sept & w/ends in Oct; Tues - Sun & BH Mons; 11.00am - 5.00pm Best Times of Year to Visit: Spring Summer Autumn To see: Spring bulbs, Azaleas, Rhododendrons Walled gardens, herbaceous border, roses Exotic trees & shrubs, autumn tints. National Collection: National Garden Scheme days: No Comments: Parties / Coaches: Yes Comments: Minimum 15 people Viewing by Appointment: Yes Comments: House Open for Viewing: Yes Comments: 1st Apr - 30th Sept Tues & Sun & BH only 12noon - 5pm. Closed 6th may, 8th July & 9th Sept. Last admission 4.30pm Admission Prices: Gardens, Chapel & Grounds: Adult £6, Child, £2; Over 60s £5.50; Family £14; Hall: Adult £2.50; Child, £1; Over 60s £2; Family £7. admission to the Hall is only available after purchase of ticket to gardens. Groups: Gardens: £5.00, Over 60s: £4.50, Hall & Gardens: £6.50, Over 60s: £5.75 Season Tickets for Hall & Gardens: Joint Adult £50; Individual Adult £30; Family £70, Child (5-16) £12. Tour with Head Gardener £70. Tour of Hall £35 Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes Shop: Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: Yes Dogs allowed: Yes Only on Lead: Yes Events: Yes Other Facilities: Specialist tours, garden courses, garden lectures and Christmas events. Designer: Egerton-Warbutons and Ashbrooks Description of Garden: Overlooking a beautiful park, these award-winning gardens have been lovingly created by successive generations of the same family. Features include the double herbaceous border, first laid out in 1846, the pleached lime avenue, the unique avenue of Quercus Ilex, shaped like giant cylinders, fine yew hedges and topiary. The gardens also contain a good collection of shrub roses, rhododendrons and azaleas, walled gardens and a herb garden. The Grove is a more informal area of the garden and contains spring bulbs, a large collection of rhododendrons and azaleas and other flowering shrubs and trees. The gardens and house have recently featured in the ITV production of "The Forsyte Saga". History: The earliest records of the gardens at Arley appear on a map of 1744. When Sir Peter and Lady Elizabeth Warburton lived here in 1743 they built the first walled gardens and laid out a large pleasure ground of shrubberies and walks on the east side of the house. In 1846 Rowland and Mary Egerton-Warburton created the garden which we see today. The breath-taking double herbaceous border was laid out in that year, many years before William Robinson made herbaceous borders so popular. George Elgood painted the border in 1889 and his watercolours were reproduced in Gertrude Jekyll's book "Some English Gardens", published in 1904. They also created the Rootree, an area of stumps and rocks, again popular in the Victorian period, the Furlong Walk and Tea Cottage garden (so named for the tea parties held there). It was his love of trees that encouraged him to create the Pleached Lime Avenue and other avenues on the estate. In 1900 Antoinette Egetton -Warburton, Rowland's daughter-in-law, created the Flag Garden as an enclosed sanctum featuring roses, lavender and other fragrant plants. In 1930 the Fish Garden with a small central pond, was created, taking the place of a former bowling green. Local Inns: The Thorn, Appleton George & Dragon, Great Budworth Accomodation: Hanover International, Stretton Cottons, Knutsford Restaurants: Village/Town/Sightseeing: Chester Gt. Budworth, (old estate village).