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Garden Name: Knebworth House
Last Modified: 04/03/2010
Garden ID: 0049

pic: 0049_knebworthhouse.jpg

Owner: The Hon. Henry Lytton Cobbold
Address:
Knebworth
Stevenage

Postcode: SG1 2AX
County: Hertfordshire

tel: 01438 812661
fax: 
website: www.knebworthhouse.com
email: info {at} knebworthhouse.com

Features: 
Knebworth House has been the Lytton family home for more than 500 years. The house and gardens are set in 250 acres of parkland with herds of Red and Sika deer. The gardens feature the Lutyens - designed pollarded Lime Avenues and Brick garden, the Gertrude Jekyll Herb Garden, now in its centenary year, the Rose Garden, the Golden Garden, the Victorian Maze reinstated in 1995, the Pets' Cemetery and the Wilderness Walks.

English Heritage Grade:
II*

Opening Times:
Weekends & Bank Holidays only: 20th - 28 Mar, 24th Apr - 23rd May, 12-27th June, 4 - 26th Sept: 11am - 5pm.
Daily: 2nd - 18th Apr, 29th May - 6th Jun, 3rd July - 31st Aug.
Also weekdays: 2nd - 176h Apr. House closed 29th July - 3rd Aug.
Park, Gardens, Dinosaurs, Adventure Playground & Garden Terrace Tea Room 11am - 5pm (last ticket sold 4.30pm)
Railway: 12noon - 5pm
House & Indian Raj display: 12noon - 5pm (last admission 4.15pm)

Best Times of Year to Visit: 


To see: 


National Collection: 


National Garden Scheme days: No
Comments: 

Parties / Coaches: Yes 
Comments: by appointment all year round.

Viewing by Appointment: Yes
Comments:  

House Open for Viewing: Yes
Comments: same as garden, except hours are 12noon - 5pm, last admission 4.15pm.

Admission Prices:
Adult £8, House admission £2.50 extra; Child & Over 60s £8, House admission £2 extra; Family day ticket £28 ex. House, £37 incl. House; Season £38.

Parking: Yes
Lavatories: Yes
Disabled Access: No
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:
Hertfordshire Garden Show 1-3 May
SALVO Fair 26-27 June - Architectural salvage, garden antiques and reclaimed building materials.
Zimscult Exhibition 3-25 July - the gardens will be the backdrop for an exhibition of Zimbabwean stone sculpture.
James and the Giant Peach 19 August - picnic style garden theatrical event
Meet the Gardener walks will take place, at no additional charge, every Wednesday, at 2pm in July.


Designer: 
Description of Garden:
The formal gardens and 'wilderness' area cover approx 25 acres. The various areas of the garden include the Sunken Lawn. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the present layout in 1910. A mixture of modern bush roses and older shrub roses, combined with herbaceous borders and 2 lily ponds, provide the centrepiece for the Rose Garden. The Maze, reinstated in 1995, using box and yew was created on the site of the Victorian Maze. There are two ponds, one ornamental, one more wild. Restoration of the Horace Garden started in 1999, and in this area is an evergreen oak, given by Queen Victoria to her godson, Victor, 2nd Earl of Lytton, on his coming of age.

The Wilderness, dating from Victorian times, is a 7 acre area of fine ornamented trees, include Californian redwoods, the tallest cut - leafed silver birch in the UK, and a 'snowdrop tree'. In spring it is a carpet of Daffodils. It also contains 72 life-size dinosaurs.

In the Jekyll Herb Garden, The 'Quincunx' pattern and planting was first designed by Gertrude Jekyll in 1907 but was not laid out until 1982. The ornamental vegetable and culinary herb garden in the Walled Garden, was designed in 1999 and laid out in 2000.


History: 
The structure and layout of the present garden, is mainly Edwardian - designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens between 1908 - 1911, but this overlays an earlier elaborate Victorian design by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, laid out from 1846 onwards. The earliest records of a garden at Knebworth date back to 1700s. Since the 1980's a programme of restoration and development has been under way, funded by the Knebworth House Education and Preservation Trust. This led to the restoration of many of the more important historic elements of the garden and new contemporary features and plantings. Each generation of the family has added something new to the garden and the present owners are carrying on that tradition.

Local Inns: 
Lytton Arms Public House, Park Lane, Old Knebworth
Brocket Arms, Ayot St. Lawrence

Accomodation: 
Novotel, Stevenage 
Knebworth Park

Restaurants: 


Village/Town/Sightseeing: 
Knebworth village
Stevenage town