Spring Lawn Care at Athelhampton House & Gardens in Dorset
- Owen Davies - Estate Manager
- May 11
- 2 min read
After one of the wettest winters in recent years, the lawns at Athelhampton House have needed a great deal of care and attention this spring. Across the historic gardens, vibrant green moss has flourished in the damp conditions, particularly on some of the central lawns beneath the famous yew pyramids.
While the moss may look soft and colourful, it quickly competes with the grass for light, water and nutrients, and if left untreated can gradually weaken the lawns that frame one of Dorset’s finest historic gardens.
For Head Gardener Sophy Robertson and the horticultural team, spring lawn restoration has become one of the season’s biggest tasks.
The first stage involved treating affected areas with sulphate of iron, a traditional horticultural treatment widely used to control moss in historic gardens and formal lawns. Over the following days the moss blackened and died back, preparing the lawns for the hard physical work still to come.
Once ready, the team began scarifying the lawns using Athelhampton’s battery powered STIHL RLA scarifier. The process removes layers of dead moss and built up thatch, helping air, moisture and nutrients reach the roots of the grass once again.
It is noisy, dusty and demanding work, but thanks to the estate’s ongoing Athelhampton Zero sustainability project, the machinery now runs quietly on battery power rather than fossil fuels. Visitors walking through the gardens can still enjoy birdsong and the peaceful atmosphere of the estate while major horticultural work takes place behind the scenes.
Scarifying can initially leave the lawns looking surprisingly bare, but it is an essential part of restoring healthy grass. Once the surface had been cleared, fresh grass seed was carefully sown across the affected areas, ready for new growth through late spring and early summer.
Across five acres of formal gardens, deep herbaceous borders and the Kitchen Garden, the scale of the work is enormous. Restoring the lawns requires the effort of the whole gardening team, and while attention is focused on the grass, jobs elsewhere in the gardens quickly begin to pile up. Borders continue racing into growth, hedges need clipping, roses demand attention, and the Kitchen Garden moves rapidly into one of its busiest periods of the year.
It is one of the hidden realities of caring for a historic garden. Visitors to Athelhampton House & Gardens often experience the gardens at their most beautiful and tranquil, but behind the scenes there is a constant cycle of restoration, maintenance and renewal.
Visitors arriving later in the season may never realise quite how much work lies beneath the lawns they stroll across, but the annual process of care is an essential part of preserving one of Dorset’s most celebrated historic gardens for future generations.
