The Alnwick Garden & Treehouse,
August 2023
Wonderful water features, petrifying poisonous plants, and a charming cherry orchard...
As part of our summer holiday this year, we paid a visit to The Alnwick Garden. Papa Pea and I had originally visited this garden almost 15 years ago when Papa Pea was just Pea, and we were keen to return one day to re-experience the gardens and eat at The Treehouse restaurant. Our second visit did not disappoint!
The incredible, ginormous climbing structure with ramps, cages, slides, and more!
The huge gates guarding the magical village of Lilidorei.
Each hut in the village is inhabited by different creatures. Look inside each hut to see how they live, and press the doorbells at each hut for a surprise...
The incredible, ginormous climbing structure with ramps, cages, slides, and more!
Lilidorei: The magical village dreamt up by The Duchess of Northumerland, Jane Percy. Watch the documentary about the creation of this park showing now on More4.
Given that our first trip was so long ago, before smart phones were a standard part of life, we didn't have huge numbers of photographs or clear memories of the details from our previous visit. However, upon reading about the garden recently, I was reminded that they have the rather unusual Poison Garden. I thought this would be the highlight of our visit, and it really was excellent, but we had forgotten how many incredible water features there were, and how many varied 'rooms' there are in the garden, all of which provided exciting adventures for all three of us. Petit Pois has a particular fondness of water features, so he was completely in his element!
We spent the morning at Lilidorei, which is an affiliated play park adjacent to the gardens. Although I wouldn't class Lilidorei as a gardeners' garden, I would say it is well worth a visit if you have a Petit Pois of your own. You can spend a couple of hours here before or after your visit to The Alnwick Garden itself and enjoy the incredible climbing structure of weaving, interconnected staircases, tunnels, cages, slides, and balance blocks, or you can spend a while wandering the paths around the pixie huts and goblin cabins, or listen to an expertly-told story by one of the elves when your legs need a rest. If you're visiting The Alnwick Garden with little people, you should stop by at Lilidorei while you are there!
Before moving onto The Alnwick Garden itself, we refuelled at The Treehouse restaurant for lunch. This was as incredible and magical as I remembered. Sadly, last time we visited, we hadn't realised that it gets booked up weeks in advance, so we could only pop our heads through the door to view the beautiful interior very briefly. This time, we were more clued up and booked almost a month in advance. When we finally arrived for our booking, I excitedly told the lady at the desk that I had waited over a decade for this moment; I couldn't quite believe we were finally there again. It really is quite a special and magical experience. Not only is the treehouse itself magnificent with its rustic interior, pretty twinkle lights, and beautiful structure, but the food was excellent too. We enjoyed delicious pigeon for a starter, roast chicken and vegetables for our main course, followed by a delicious lemon posset pie dessert. For those of you with allergies or specific dietary requirements, fear not: they have an allergen book and were able to cater for my needs comfortably. There was plenty of choice for Petit Pois too, so there really is something for everyone. It surpassed our expectations, which is quite a feat! We would wholeheartedly recommend a meal there amongst the canopy when you visit The Alnwick Garden; it will elevate your experience to another level (quite literally!)
The Treehouse is set in the beautiful trees that lie between Lilidorei and The Alnwick Garden.
The Treehouse is beautiful, both inside and out.
The food was excellent, too!
The Treehouse is set in the beautiful trees that lie between Lilidorei and The Alnwick Garden.
The Treehouse restaurant
After lunch, the time had finally come for us to enter the garden itself. We were glad to have taken the time to enjoy the affiliated play park and restaurant, but they were the amuse-bouche to the anticipated main course: The Alnwick Garden proper.
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As soon as we entered the garden, Petit Pois was immediately drawn to the central water feature that welcomes you through the entrance gates: The Grand Cascade. It really is spectacular to watch, with the dancing fountains and jets that display interesting patterns down the central promenade. Some of the jets arch over a walkway that cuts through the centre of the water feature and, even when we weren't in clear view of the fountains, we knew when the jets were firing because we could hear the joyful squeals of delight and giggles from children as they ran beneath them.
While The Grand Cascade is probably the largest water feature in the garden, it was certainly not the only water feature! The Ornamental Garden was home to a beautiful central reservoir, the Source Pool, that fed into numerous cobbled rills. Two of them ran to small, circular hedged rooms within the Ornamental Garden itself, with circular pools and circular fountains in their centres, creating intimate, soft spaces to enjoy the tranquil sounds of water and close planting. Conversely, one of the rills ran out of the ornate central gates of the Ornamental Garden, down towards two water jets within lawned gardens hidden by the hornbeam hedges on either side of The Grand Cascade, thereby subtly linking the Ornamental Garden to the central garden and creating a literal flow from one to the other.
The Source Pool in the Ornamental Garden provides water for the three rills that run off it.
The spectacular choreography of the jets within The Grand Cascade is quite something to behold!
A glorious and grand greeting as you enter The Alnwick Garden.
The Source Pool in the Ornamental Garden provides water for the three rills that run off it.
A small selection of the many water features
If that isn't enough to quench your thirst for stunning water features, then head to the Serpent Garden to experience a diverse collection of water features designed by William Pye, all of which are quite different to one another. We spent a few minutes watching the hydrostatic pressure build in the Torricelli water feature, with the water slowly inching higher and higher through the clear tubes until, suddenly, the jets began and the water dropped once again. You have to be very patient for the appearance of the jets (to which Petit Pois will testify!) but it is worth the wait. If, however, you require more immediate gratification, you can tour any number of the other features that continually flow, including a mushroom shaped fountain named Coanda, an immersive fountain named Waterglass where you can stand in its sunken centre, or you can challenge yourself (or others) to squeeze through the centre of Canyon without getting wet... If you are looking for inspiration for a water feature of your own, I would highly recommend that you do a tour of the features at The Alnwick Garden! You won't fail to find something you love.
They say the sting can last for years and is like being burnt by fire and acid. Full protective gear is required when handling the plant, including face-masks incase of airborne stingers. This specimen was not just caged; it was growing within a protective glass case where there was no possibility for visitors to make contact with the leaves.
Three of the berries are enough to kill a child and, unfortunately, they taste enticingly sweet. Incredibly, the berries are actually the least toxic part of the plant; the roots are the most deadly tissue.
Who doesn't love rhubarb crumble and custard? Well, make sure you don't include any leaves in your pudding; the leaves are toxic and can kill you!
They say the sting can last for years and is like being burnt by fire and acid. Full protective gear is required when handling the plant, including face-masks incase of airborne stingers. This specimen was not just caged; it was growing within a protective glass case where there was no possibility for visitors to make contact with the leaves.
Specimens from the Poison Garden, starting with the Gympie-gympie stinging nettle!
I couldn't visit The Alnwick Garden without visiting The Poison Garden, especially as they have acquired the unusual Gympie-gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) plant! However, given that Petit Pois has an innate curiosity and lack of self control at his current age, Papa Pea and I decided that the optimal experience in this case would involve Papa Pea lying in a deck chair while supervising Petit Pois playing in the sand pit situated safely outside the confines of the Poison Garden gates. This allowed me to enjoy the tour in peace, without constantly needing to watch my child instead of the tour guide! I'm sure those of you with Petits Pois of your own can identify with this situation and solution...
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For safety reasons, they only allow 20 guests onto each tour, and there is no ticketing system...so I diligently queued for 40 minutes to wait my turn. Although I would say that a ticketing system would undoubtedly be more efficient for guests on busy days, I will also admit that there are far worse places to queue than alongside The Grand Cascade of The Alnwick Garden.
Once I made it inside the gates, the tour was excellent. The tour guide was highly knowledgeable and amusing; she presented the information in an accessible manner, with enough details about the chemicals produced by the plants to interest the more scientific audience, and enough gory stories to entertain those with an appetite for true crime! I managed to get a few snaps of interesting plants, although it was a challenge given that I was also trying to listen to the interesting stories at the same time. I enjoyed seeing normal, everyday plants among the collection, such as the yew tree, foxgloves, and rhubarb, as well as the more unusual species such as Ricinus communis. The more immediately dangerous plants or plants relating to Class A drugs were all grown within cages to make them harder to access and to keep guests (or potential victims of guests!) safe, and the Gympie-gympie plant was safely encased within a glass cabinet. No-one wants to experience one of those stings!
For visitors looking for a slightly less hair-raising experience, they can follow the path that leads past the Poison Garden and head to the cherry orchard to relax. Here, there are beautiful winding paths that lead up through the orchard, with its many cherry trees interspersed with quaint, rustic swing seats looking out over the valley. Petit Pois and Papa Pea particularly enjoyed racing up to the swings on the steepest part of the incline and taking a few minutes to swing somewhat excitedly in jubilation for making it up the hill. Alternatively, you can amble along the more gently winding path back towards the Ornamental Garden and the The Grand Cascade, and then keep following the path all the way to the Rose Garden.
The romantic Rose Garden
The Rose Garden holds a couple of key delights; not only is the planting beautiful (of course!) but they also have an interesting structure for training the climbing roses. It is a spiral of sorts, but the curve becomes more acute as you progress towards the central circle at its eye; it's difficult to describe, so I'm afraid you shall have to visit the garden to see for yourself... However, needless to say, it got me thinking about the structures that I hope to add to my own Rose Garden, and it made me think about the fact that you don't have to stick to the typical rose arches and pergola shapes that you see in many formal gardens. You can create your own organic shapes to make the most of the space that you have.
Speaking of organic shapes, the bamboo walk is definitely worth a mention at this point. If you like the sound of the wind whooshing through the leaves, you should definitely seek out the entrance to the Bamboo Labyrinth. It is magical and mystical, with its tightly winding paths and dark canopy. As soon as you enter, you are plunged into cool darkness, until you find your way to the centre where you are briefly illuminated by a break in the canopy before heading out on the other side. All three of us enjoyed the unique and mystical experience of darting through, losing and finding each other along the interconnected, winding paths. It is far more fun and mystical than your standard maze!
A dark and mystical place to explore...
Petit Pois enjoyed exploring the mystical Bamboo Labyrinth, searching for the centre and exploring the many winding paths.
A dark and mystical place to explore...
The Bamboo Labyrinth
By the time we burst out of the bamboo walk back into the sunshine, the day was done, and the gardens were much quieter than when we arrived. We enjoyed a solitary, peaceful view of the dancing waters of The Grand Cascade one last time before accepting that the time had come for us to go home. With tired legs, inspired minds, and happy memories, we slowly made our way back to the car, but all was not lost: each of us had brought a little bit of Alnwick inspiration with us for our own garden. Papa Pea wants to capture some of the intimacy of the hornbeam walkways, Petit Pois wants us to build Lilidorei (although he might be disappointed by the scale required to fit onto our more modest plot!) and I want to create my own shapes in our own Rose Garden and perhaps include an extra water feature, or two. So, let's see what this might translate into for our plot at The Cottage...