News from Athelhampton House & Gardens.

Dodging showers while walking down to the greenhouse at Athelhampton this morning, we found it bursting with colour! Rows of ripening tomatoes are thriving under the glass, cared for daily by our gardening team. 160 Tomato plants lining the Greenhouse in the Kitchen Garden From tiny sweet cherry tomatoes to large, juicy heritage varieties, there’s nothing quite like the sight (and taste!) of a bumper crop grown with patience and care. And you'll have the chance to try them, t

Earlier this year the gardening team replanted and extended much of the South Walk at Athelhampton, drawing inspiration from Gertrude Jekyll’s classic country garden style. Echinacea blooming in the newly established herbaceous borders With over 1000 feet of deep herbaceous borders to tend at Athelhampton, our gardening team are busy in this dry spell, watering and caring for every plant — and their hard work is paying off. Just look at this beautiful echinacea in full bloom!

In the gardens at Athelhampton, our ancient yews aren’t just trees — they’re living architecture. Precise work being carried out to maintain fabulous topiary Each summer, our hardworking gardeners climb, clip, and shape the 12 towering topiary pyramids and other yews into their iconic forms. It’s slow, patient work, often at height, with a few places where a ladder just won’t reach — though always done following strict health and safety procedures. Challenging but rewarding w

At Athelhampton the pale pink hydrangeas are starting to bloom, lining the front drive in a soft, romantic haze as you approach the old Tudor Manor House. The Hydrangea border brings hues of pink to the front of the Tudor Manor Hydrangeas have been cultivated for centuries - prized for their generous, ever-changing colours, which reflect the soil itself. Gorgeous pink Hydrangea flowers beginning to bloom Ours blush pink thanks to the lime-rich Dorset soil, welcoming visitors

A bright rose growing in a quiet corner of Athelhampton today served as a reminder of a historic story. Medieval land ownership was complicated. After 1066, the Crown claimed all land and granted it out in layers. The Crown was the top layer, and by the 1100s, places like Christchurch Priory (the middle layer), held manors from the Crown to fund their work, while families like the Martins of Athelhampton, held the manor beneath that. The Martins held Athelhampton in ‘socage’—

We grow much more than fruit and vegetables in our Kitchen Garden. Lupin ‘The Pages’ Running through centre of the 1 acre walled garden is the central axis, with rich deep herbaceous borders filled with pink and blue, to attract pollinators into the garden. Prickly Sea Holly These plants are varied through the seasons, but at the moment you can come and see lupins, poppies, delphiniums, sea holly, and cornflowers amongst many others. Delphinium, Poppies, Lupin, and Knautia pr

On a warm and humid day at Athelhampton the gardening team have decided it's just a day for a refreshing dip in the water! Work - not play! The White Garden Pond surrounded by beautiful herbaceous planting Our eight ponds and eleven fountains are all fed from the River Piddle and each pond is teaming with life. The Gardening Team clearing blanket weed from the pond Our froglets have all climbed out, so our gardeners now hop in and give them a little tidy, taking care not to d

When you visit Athelhampton you will see that many of the walls of the Tudor House have pretty clumps of white, lavender and pink flowers of Erigeron, though we like to use its old English name, Fleabane. Hundreds of pink and white Erigeron flower heads dancing in the breeze 500 years ago the Tudor families at Athelhampton would have utilsed bouquets of dried fleabane which could be hung in a room or placed in a chest or coffer to deter fleas, flies and gnats. In times of a h