The Queen Elizabeth Walled Garden

The sycamore tree that sits in the centre of the Walled Garden is the oldest tree on the estate and is thought to date back to 1599.

Next to the Walled Garden, visitors will find The Pierburg Building and Kauffman Education Gardens, a one-acre organically-managed garden which is used to introduce thousands of visiting school pupils to gardening, the provenance of food and sustainable practices every year.

Delphinium elatum line a 130ft-long, 13ft-deep border at the foot of The Queen Elizabeth Walled Garden.

The display of delphiniums is underplanted by iris and richly-scented phlox, providing colour for months, rather than merely weeks.

The delphinium display was planted in early-2014 and is at its best throughout June and early-July

A display glasshouse at the lower part of the walled garden is like a big conservatory and is primarily for enjoyment by members of the public. It is heated all year round to accommodate exotic planting, allowing our gardens team to extend the growing seasons to maintain scented and beautiful display plants throughout the year. 

A row of coldframes at the front of the display house contains plants that need to be hardened before they are fully exposed to the elements. The display glasshouse is one of three glasshouses in The Queen Elizabeth Walled Garden. Their primary purpose is to provide a microclimate to enable the raising of particular seeds and plants. 

In the Kauffman Education Garden, allows early cultivation of flowers, fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and melons, that are then planted nearby for use in education activities or as ingredients for use by chefs in the estate’s Woodlands restaurant.

In the adjacent public garden, a production glass house at the top is split into sections and incorporates a potting bench, a heated bench, and growing areas comprising nectarines, red grapes, and green eating grapes.