The diversity of planting at Benington Lorship Gardens offers visitors something to see all year round, whether it’s the recently replanted formal Rose Garden, traditional Herbacious border, or the banks of hellebores and snowdrops that blanket the gardens in early Spring,

The huge Herbaceous borders are a wild unsophisticated mix of old fashioned plants. From May to September they constantly change, the best views depending on the time of day and position of the sun.

In what was once the inside of the Norman keep, banks of Hellebores, snowdrops and winter flowing shrubs are at their best in February. There is also the Cowslip Bank with its wild flowers, Cowslips, Oxslips and Primroses.

In the Kitchen Garden, raised beds have replaced large open plots to make working on the heavy clay soil easier in winter. Vegetables are grown to supply the house throughout the year, and the mature shrub beds are home to a growing collection of named Snowdrops.

The mature apple trees in the Orchard are very important for wildlife, particularly birds that feed on insects during the summer and the windfalls in Autumn. In spring the Orchard is carpeted by a stunning displary of blue and yellow Scillas and Daffodils.

The gardens also feature two ponds, the larger of which has recently been cleared and restored to a Carp Pond, which we believe may have been it’s original purpose when the Norman Keep was built. The lower pond was fenced in 1996 and is managed as a wildlife area for birds and dragonflies. A spring that has never been known to dry up feeds the small pools down to the lake.

For garden opening dates see our Events Diary