***************************************************************** * Gardens-Guide.com * 250,000 UNIQUE VISITORS in 2011 * 2,000 garden pages viewed per day from March to September 2011 * * 1,000+ Page Views! - One-Quarter of all gardens listed on Gardens-Guide.com * were EACH viewed more than 1,000 times in 2011. * * 500+ Page Views! - HALF of all gardens listed on Gardens-Guide.com were * EACH viewed more than 500 times in 2011. * ***************************************************************** *** UPDATE FORM *** Dunham Massey 1) Please COPY the entire FORM BELOW 2) Make any changes in BRIGHT RED -OR- mark changed Section Headers with: *** 3) email the ENTIRE FORM UPDATED backto us: wd (at) armchair-travel (dot) com **************************************************************** **************************************************************** **************************************************************** *** also - SEARCH ENGINE BOOSTING for both YOU and Gardens-Guide.com *** If your webmaster could place a link from your own website directly to your page on Gardens-Guide.com, this will improve it's rankings in Google and other search engines. Please use the following format and info on your own site to link to your page in Gardens-Guide.com: at Gardens-Guide.com http://www.gardens-guide.com The premiere directory of open gardens in the UK and Ireland today Ask your friends and suppliers as well to link to your page in Gardens-Guide as well. Every link we get into your page helps rankings for both of us in search engines. **************************************************************** **************************************************************** **************************************************************** Garden Name: Dunham Massey Last Modified: 14-01-2011 Garden ID: 0210 pic: 0210_dunham.jpg NOTE: If this says "missing", then please send us a picture for your page which is at least 1000 x 1000 pixels in size. Thanks! Owner: National Trust Address: Altrincham Manchester Postcode: WA14 4SJ County: Cheshire tel: 0161 9411025 fax: 0161 929 7508 website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunhammassey email: dunhammassey //at// nationaltrust.org.uk English Heritage Grade: II* Opening Times: NOTE for 2012: Please check with garden owners or their website to confirm current dates open http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunhammassey Garden: 1st Jan - 25th Feb; daily; 11am - 4pm 26th Feb - 30th Oct; daily; 11am - 5.30pm 31st Oct - 31st Dec; daily; 11am - 4pm Park: open all year; daily; 9am - 5pm; March to October gates remain open until 7:30 Mill: 26th Feb - 30th Oct; Sat - Wed; 12noon - 4pm; White Cottage: 27th Feb - 30th Oct; Sun; 2pm - 5pm House open Good Fri and BH Suns & Mons 11-5. Property closed 23 November for staff training and 25 December (including park) Best Times of Year to Visit: May & June June & July August - October To see: Bog Garden Late flowering Azaleas (Denny Platt Collection) Hydrangea Collection National Collection: National Garden Scheme days: Yes Comments: Parties / Coaches: Yes Comments: Viewing by Appointment: Yes Comments: House Open for Viewing: Yes Comments: 26th Feb - 30th Oct; Sat - Wed; 11am - 5pm 11am to 12noon visit to house by guided taster tour only (restricted numbers, allocated upon arrival). Admission Prices: Gift Aid Admission (Standard Admission prices in brackets) House and garden: adult £10 (£9.05), child £5 (£4.50), family £25 (£22.60). Garden: adult £7 (£6.35), child £3.50 (£3.15), family £17.50 (£15.85). Estate entry - cars (Standard Admission): adult £5. Estate entry - motorbikes (Standard Admission): adult £1.50. Reduced house and garden rate when arriving by public transport Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes Shop: Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: No Dogs allowed: No Only on Lead: No Events: Yes Other Facilities: £3 parking charge, refunded when a House and garden ticket purchased. Restaurant open year round. Car park being improved - some temporary restrictions may apply. Features: Elizabethan Mount, Victorian Bark House, 18th Century Orangery, Pump House and Edwardian Parterre. Green Silk Room restored. 17th century State Bed restored. Designer: Description of Garden: Surrounding the 18th-century house, the garden at Dunham Massey is a great plantsman's garden with interesting historic features of note including an Orangery, Pump House, Victorian Bark House and the remains of an Elizabethan Mount. Acid conditions and a varied site provide for a wide range of unusual shade- and moisture-loving plants including Giant Chinese Lilies, Himalayan Blue Poppies and rare late-flowering azaleas, all set amongst manicured lawns, mixed borders and cool woodland. Well worth visiting in spring for the drifts of bluebells in the shady woods, in summer for the Edwardian parterre with its glorious formal bedding or in autumn for the spectacular border of hydrangeas containing over 60 varieties. History: The moat is first mentioned in 1411 but is probably much older and the Mount formed part of the garden created by 'Old' Sir George Booth at the start of the 17th century. The 2nd Earl of Warrington removed the walled enclosures and created an enormous park which also included terraces, parterres, and two productive gardens. The 5th Earl of Stamford was responsible for the flowing lawns and more naturalistic planting seen today. He also planted purple beech in the early 1790's, two specimens of which still survive near the Orangery. His son, Lord Grey of Groby, was an enthusiastic planter and collected many trees and plants of all kinds, as did the 7th Earl, who, after he succeeded in 1845, doubled the expenditure on the gardens. Standards began to slip by the end of the century but the 9th Earl took a keen interest in the gardens and laid out a parterre by the north front and a rose garden. After WWII the garden lost many of its features, (the workforce diminishing from 10 to 2) and it was not until the National Trust took it over with a generous bequest from the 10th and last Earl of Stamford in 1976 that restoration began, masterminded by John Sales, its Head of Gardens, and a dedicated team of five gardeners. Local Inns: Spread Eagle Hotel, Lymm, Cheshire Accomodation: Quality Hotel, Langham Road, Bowden, Altrincham Restaurants: The Stables Restaurant, Dunham Massey Village/Town/Sightseeing: Altrincham (Metro tram to Manchester) Quarry Bank Mill Manchester United museum Tatton Park Jodrell Bank