Garden News 18 Jan

My favourite
PLACE
Howick Hall, Northumberland
By Susie White
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
‘The place has a beguiling
informality about it’
Garden writer,
photographer
and author Susie
White enjoys
visiting Howick
Hall Gardens &
Arboretum near
Alnwick, which
features in her
book, Gardens of
Northumberland
and the Borders
Howick Hall is the ancestral
home of the Grey family, of Earl
Grey tea fame. Apparently, the
tea was blended specifically for
the hard water in the area and the
addition of bergamot was to hide
the taste of lime!
The garden is set around a
large 18th century house and
it’s quite uncommercialised,
which is rare. There's a big car park
now, but for ages it was tiny, and
there's a timeless air to the place.
Even when there are lots of people,
they disappear into the woods and
gardens, so you can wander around
and feel at peace.
Despite formal elements, the
place has a beguiling informality
about it. The plants self-seed in the
stones of the terrace and there are
swathes of snake’s head fritillaries
in the meadows. These are followed
by masses of naturalised tulips,
there's a real vibrancy to them, rich,
deep red and purple; in among the
wildflowers they're totally beautiful.
I've been going there for 40 years
and I have seen it develop. It
hasn't ever lost its charm and there’s
a lovely tearoom where you can
watch red squirrels feeding outside.
In autumn there are wonderful
colchicums underneath the katsura
trees, with their sharp yellow leaves
and sweeping branches. There
are acres of snowdrops, too, and a
Snowdrop Festival in February.
My own style is rather similar
to the planting around the bog
garden. It's free-flowing, with the
wild and cultivated together. I love
the combination of plants from
all over the world mixed in with
natives, such as purple loosestrife
and hogweed.
The arboretum at Howick Hall
is vast. Many of the trees came
from wild-collected seed from
plant-hunting expeditions. I was
there when Roy Lancaster planted a
Chinese wingnut and it’s beautiful,
with great tresses of flowers in
spring. And if you go from the
formal gardens, along the Long Walk
through the arboretum, you get to
a quiet little cove at the edge of the
North Sea. It’s a wonderful end point.
■ Howick Hall Gardens and
Arboretum, Alnwick,
Northumberland, England,
NE66 3LB; www.howickhall
gardens.com.
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50 Garden News / January 18 2020