Wimpole Garden

Pleasure Grounds

Pleasure Grounds©Wimpole
To the north-east of the house, enclosed by a ha-ha, a nineteenth century Pleasure Grounds extends as far as the mid eighteenth century Walled Garden. In spite of the heavy clay soil there are some good specimens of trees including Sequoiadendron gigantieum Giant Redwood; Betula Birch; Abies pinsapo Spanish Fir; Quercus ilex Holm Oak various conifers and a very large Cornus mas Cornelian Cherry with yellow flowers in early spring, followed in summer by red cherry like fruits. Also planted in this area and continuing around the perimeter of the Walled Garden is a National Collection® of Juglans (Walnuts) species and varieties.

Planted throughout this whole area are many different kinds of daffodils, early editions being made in Mrs Bambridge's day, using best-quality bulbs after forcing for the house. Old varieties like 'King Alfred' (1899), 'Mrs E. H. Krelage' (1912), 'Macy Copeland' and 'Bath's Flame' (1914), 'John Evelyn' (1920), 'Mrs R. O. Backhouse', 'Fortune', 'Beersheba', 'Cheerfulness' (1923) are included, with many kinds of later raising varieties such as 'Golden Harvest' and 'Carlton' (1927), 'Rembrandt' and 'Geranium' (1930), 'Mount Hood' and 'Sempre Avanti' (1938), 'Red Rascal, (1950) and 'Mrs Barclay' (1954). Wild flowers have also colonised the area: varieties include Primrose, Orchids, Cowslips and violets.

MARCH
·Daffodils

APRIL
·Daffodils

OCTOBER
·Autumn foliage in the Pleasure Grounds: Acers, Cherries etc