Gyles Brandreth rocked up to Newby Hall to unveil a newly restored garden brought back to its Edwardian glory in a painstaking seven-year project.
Relays of wheelbarrows laden with soil, managing plants that can cope with flood waters and uncovering ‘lost’ rocks. These proved some of the challenges in bringing back to life a magical fairy woodland within Newby Hall’s grounds.
A painstaking seven-year project curated by Newby’s Lucinda Compton has seen the revival of the Rock Garden which has now been officially opened to visitors.
The garden’s story began in 1912 with tonnes of millstone grit boulders brought to the estate from Pateley Bridge on the edge of the Dales. They were carefully stacked into dramatic rock formations, creating pockets for planting alpines.
Such naturalistic rock gardens were a fashionable style at the time and at Newby Hall, celebrated gardener Ellen Willmott worked with the Hall’s then owner, Robert Vyner, to develop the garden with choice plants and a plan for a small waterfall cascading to a grotto and lily ponds.
The garden was completed in the summer of 1914, only months before many of Newby’s gardeners enlisted in Kitchener’s Army. Poignantly, several never returned.
Over the ensuing decades, nature gradually reclaimed the site, obscuring the scale and drama of the original design. The meticulous restoration, led by garden curator Lucinda Compton and head gardener Lawrence Wright, has reinstated the garden’s early‑20th‑century character while safeguarding it for future generations.
The transformation involved excavating and replacing hundreds of tonnes of soil, realigning rockwork and pathways, restoring the waterfall and aqueduct bridge, and applying tonnes of fresh gravel mulch. More than 10,000 plants, bulbs, shrubs and trees have been introduced, including rare alpine species such as Meconopsis blue poppies, primulas and clematis, supplied by alpine specialists Kevock Garden Plants.
Some areas of the Rock Garden fall within the flood zone of the River Ure which borders the garden. 'For this reason', says a guide to the garden, 'these beds are a tapestry of tough perennials that are happy with moist toes.'
Lucinda Compton said: ‘Newby’s Rock Garden was heavily influenced by pioneering plantswoman Ellen Willmott. During the Edwardian period, designers rejected Victorian formality in favour of more naturalistic planting inspired by alpine scree slopes, but over time nature had reclaimed the site. This restoration has been a true labour of love – from carefully chosen rare plantings to sensitive landscaping that allows the plants to shine for the 21st century visitor. It has taken many hours of dedicated work by our garden team over the past seven years, and I am delighted to see our vision realised so magnificently.
Gyles Brandreth is a great friend of Newby – his collection of teddy bears has found a home on the estate for visitors to enjoy.
He added his support as he unveiled the restored garden: ‘I, and my bears are honoured to be involved with Newby Hall. It is a place of beauty, fun and history. The completion of the Rock Garden is an amazing addition to what already is the finest garden in the North. History is made every day, but this is a monumental day in the garden's development.”
The Rock Garden is now open to visitors as part of Newby’s award‑winning 25‑acre gardens.
Plan your visit: https://www.newbyhall.com/
