Our intrepid reporter/photographer for the visit is Kelly Mahl; she writes:
A little history of the garden
Sizergh castle is owned by the family, Strictlands. They have owned
it since 1239. Although they own it, it is maintained by the National
Trust. The style of the castle is a Tudor Manor, built around a 14th
century pele tower, which was used for protection against the Scots
during their raids on England. The whole estate is 1600 acres, which
includes six farms and eight woodland areas.
The Lake (below
left and right)
Around the lake (highlighted below left with Nate in the foreground)
is an assortment of trees to provide different colors throughout the
year. Examples of these are Viburnum plicatum, Rosa farreri persetosa,
Manna ash, and Salix. The lake was extended from the castle moat
in 1926, and was stocked with 40 Golden Rudd, which were more than happy
when we (Susan and I, Kelly) fed them our lunches.
The rock garden (Adorned above
by Jim and Matt)
The rock garden is an amazing place to go. It is one of the most unique
rock gardens because it is so large, it uses weathered limestone from
local outcrops, and it has a large collection of conifers and hardy ferns.
Another outstanding quality that it had was the way that contrasted the
colors maroon and green on eachother. Some of the marroon came from Cotinus
coggygria and Acer palmatum 'Atropurpurea' where as the green
came from ferns and Norway Spruce.
Additional comments from Mother Hen: As you can see above, the rock garden is indeed spectacular, but Sizergh also offers a very nice mixed border (below) and a grand, traditional lawn (right).
Our colleagues last year also visited Sizergh in May '99, have a look at the garden in Springtime. (Remember to use the Back button on the browser to return to this page)
