Alnwick Garden, a Northumbrian Showpiece

A Unique Garden Alongside One of England’s Largest Inhabited Castles

Nov 5, 2008 Anthony Toole

With its water sculptures, fountains and huge treehouse, there is beauty, fun and wonder for everyone. Not to mention a visit to a locked garden full of poisonous plants.

The Castle, famous as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films, was built by the Percy family in the 14th century and is home to the Dukes of Northumberland.

Alnwick's earliest garden was created in 1750 by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, from Kirkharle, just over twenty miles to the south-west of Alnwick. Following the Second World War, it fell into decline and by the 1990s was derelict and overgrown. The Duchess of Northumberland, a keen gardener, realised its potential as a place of peace and beauty to be enjoyed by the public. She invited Belgian landscape designers Jacques and Peter Wirtz to create what has become one of the largest and most innovative gardens in Europe.

Grand Cascade

From the visitor centre, one’s eyes are drawn inexorably toward the Grand Cascade that occupies the slope beyond the lawn. This consists of a series of steps down which the water flows to a reservoir at the base. The whole is self-contained and computer controlled, with the water continually recycled. Every half hour, a series of fountains is activated, creating an impressive sculptured wave filling the length of the cascade.

Immediately to the right of the entrance, is a labyrinth, in which a pathway twists between dense thickets of bamboo, too high for even the tallest visitor to see over. Alongside this is a rose garden, containing more than 3000 rose varieties.

Serpent Garden

The Alnwick Garden has been designed throughout as a ‘hands-on’ experience tapping into everyone’s childlike sense of wonder. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Serpent Garden. Here, the tail of a topiary snake draws one past a series of sculptures designed by William Pye, in which water flows over polished stainless steel, its motion governed by strict physical principles. These include a vortex, a canyon through which one can try to squeeze without getting wet, and a mushroom-shaped structure on which surface tension and viscosity overcome gravity. The display culminates in the Torricelli fountain, operated by hydrostatic pressure, where shrieking children become temporarily trapped in a ring of water. Parents are advised to bring spare clothing.

Poison Garden

Across the base of the Cascade from the Serpent Garden is the Poison Garden, which contains a large number of toxic plants. These include common garden species such as belladonna, monkshood and laburnam as well as narcotics like coca and cannabis, for which a government licence has been granted. This garden is locked with visitors taken on a fifteen-minute guided tour. It is linked to a drugs awareness programme run by the local police.

Ornamental Garden

A tunnel of trellised hornbeam runs up the slopes on both sides of the cascade. At the top, one passes through wrought iron gates created in 16th century Venice, and into the Ornamental Garden, which boasts the largest collection of European plants in England. It is set out in a pattern of squares, some of them enclosed in wire cages adorned with climbing plants, creating the illusion of a completely vegetated room. The walls of this, and indeed the main garden were built from redbrick ballast carried to the seaports of Northumberland during the 18th century.

Treehouse

The most unusual innovation in the Alnwick Garden is the Treehouse, which is constructed around fifteen mature limes, and fulfils everyone’s fairy tale fantasies. It is one of the largest in the world, with parts linked by bouncing rope bridges. At its centre is one of the most atmospheric restaurants to be found anywhere.

Further work is planned, including a skating pond, an adventure play area adjoining the Treehouse and several more themed gardens.

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