The East Garden at Holme Pierrepont Hall
The East Garden at Holme Pierrepont Hall is at its most magical during the winter and early Spring months, with one of the most dazzling displays of winter flowering gardens in Nottinghamshire.
Renowned for our dazzling displays of Snowdrops, Wild Tulips, Daffodils, Hellebores and Aconites, everyone can enjoy this wonderful garden by visiting on one of the days when we open to the public.
The Gardens are open to the public on selected days from February until June, when the floral seasons change from the cheerful bulbs Spring to a full blaze of romantic colour in Summer.
Renowned for our dazzling displays of Snowdrops, Wild Tulips, Daffodils, Hellebores and Aconites, everyone can enjoy this wonderful garden by visiting on one of the days when we open to the public.
The Gardens are open to the public on selected days from February until June, when the floral seasons change from the cheerful bulbs Spring to a full blaze of romantic colour in Summer.
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A Winter Flowering WoodlandUntil the beginning of the 19th Century, the area of the East Garden was surrounded on three sides by a Garden Wall of 1628 - with the house on the fourth side. In the 17th Century, there was an elaborate formal garden which was disbanded by the Georgians who pulled down part of the garden wall. During the 20th Century when the army occupied the house during both World Wars, there were Nissan Huts everywhere. In 1947, Lady Sibill Argles grew barley to feed her pigs in the garden. It was in 1973 that the East Garden as we know it today was created, with its yew trees, shrubs and trees. The winter flowering garden was created in the early 21st Century and Holme Pierrepont Hall is one of increasingly few locations in England where the wild tulip or woodland tulip, 'Tulipa Sylvestris' can be seen. |
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The Rare Wild Tulip - 'Tulipa Sylvestris'
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The rare wild tulip, ‘Tulipa Sylvestris’ makes its appearance in the gardens at Holme Pierrepont Hall in April.
These yellow flowers appear in the parkland surrounding the Grade II listed courtyard garden each April and it is believed to be the only relative of the garden tulip which grows naturally in the wild.
The story of how these exquisite flowers came to be on the estate has its roots in 17th century history.
Back in the 17th Century, the East Garden was traditionally walled as a Courtyard Garden and this was where the tulips were originally planted. When the walled garden was dismantled back in the 1800s, tulips had grown out of fashion so the gardeners simply threw the tulip bulbs over the garden wall, when they were no longer wanted. This is why the bulbs can be seen in the Parkland, rather than the Courtyard Garden today.
The flowers are from the original Tudor bulbs. Each bulb typically only flowers every 5 or 10 years so it’s a rare sight indeed to see these exquisitely pretty flowers, when they appear. Over the years, quite a few tulip enthusiasts who have visited the Hall have commented that they haven’t found anywhere else in the country where ‘Tulipa Sylvestris’ can be seen in such abundance.
It’s thought that the flower was originally introduced into England in Roman times from the Southern Mediterranean.
Tulips were extremely fashionable in the early 17th century and their popularity and scarcity generated one of the first recorded speculative bubbles in commercial history, called ‘Tulip Mania’. In the 1630s, the price of tulips rose astronomically with many bulbs costing as much as the price of a house to purchase. However, the commercial bubble was to be short-lived and when the demand and market for tulips collapsed in February 1637, many livelihoods and homes were lost for people connected with the industry. It was the collapse of ‘Tulip Mania’ which ultimately saw the bulbs at Holme Pierrepont Hall being discarded over the garden wall – where they remain today.
These yellow flowers appear in the parkland surrounding the Grade II listed courtyard garden each April and it is believed to be the only relative of the garden tulip which grows naturally in the wild.
The story of how these exquisite flowers came to be on the estate has its roots in 17th century history.
Back in the 17th Century, the East Garden was traditionally walled as a Courtyard Garden and this was where the tulips were originally planted. When the walled garden was dismantled back in the 1800s, tulips had grown out of fashion so the gardeners simply threw the tulip bulbs over the garden wall, when they were no longer wanted. This is why the bulbs can be seen in the Parkland, rather than the Courtyard Garden today.
The flowers are from the original Tudor bulbs. Each bulb typically only flowers every 5 or 10 years so it’s a rare sight indeed to see these exquisitely pretty flowers, when they appear. Over the years, quite a few tulip enthusiasts who have visited the Hall have commented that they haven’t found anywhere else in the country where ‘Tulipa Sylvestris’ can be seen in such abundance.
It’s thought that the flower was originally introduced into England in Roman times from the Southern Mediterranean.
Tulips were extremely fashionable in the early 17th century and their popularity and scarcity generated one of the first recorded speculative bubbles in commercial history, called ‘Tulip Mania’. In the 1630s, the price of tulips rose astronomically with many bulbs costing as much as the price of a house to purchase. However, the commercial bubble was to be short-lived and when the demand and market for tulips collapsed in February 1637, many livelihoods and homes were lost for people connected with the industry. It was the collapse of ‘Tulip Mania’ which ultimately saw the bulbs at Holme Pierrepont Hall being discarded over the garden wall – where they remain today.
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