Date – 9 September 2023
Time – 12:00 am
The Northern Branch are holding their annual branch meeting on Saturday 9th September at National Trust Crook Hall followed by a guided tour of the gardens with Head Gardener Anne Tulloch and networking lunch.
Registration in advance is required please to let us know numbers, no later than 1st September.
Crook Hall Gardens
Frankland Lane, Sidegate, Durham, DH1 5SZ
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/crook-hall-gardens
Time: Meet for 10.30am outside the main entrance
A ‘green oasis’ in the heart of the City, the gardens are the perfect haven for those of a horticultural persuasion. Best described as a ‘compartmentalised’ garden with two walled gardens close to the Georgian House and the Jacobean Room these walled gardens are full of herbaceous plants, flowering shrubs and trees and the garden and property walls where every single centimetre is covered with wall climbers, roses and fruit trees.
The National Trust acquired the site in 2022 and have also acquired the services of the previous head gardener Ann Tulloch, a passionate horticulturist who is extremely committed to improving and developing the garden and with the large group of (>60) volunteers and the full support of the National Trust and all their horticultural resources to create the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ Garden of County Durham.
The garden also includes a green maze, a cathedral lawn and viewpoint, a Shakespearean garden with plantings that are reputed to be within the bards’ sonnets and plays, a small fruit orchard, silver and white garden, a moat pond with ecological water features, the ‘nerve centre’ propagation greenhouse with vegetable and fruit areas with a large vegetable plot including pollinator strips.
Some plants of note in the garden include a selection of Camelia’s, drifts of Thermopsis montana and pink bistort in the walled garden, numerous old fashioned roses including ramblers and climbers over walls and up and over archways. In summer the main walled gardens are crammed with Helianthus, Lupins, Salvia, Cosmos, Acanthus, Phlox, Hydrangea spp. and numerous other colourful shrubs and trees. Many feature trees including Willow Leaved Pear, Eucalyptus spp., Ginkgo biloba and a fantastic mature Copper Beech tree in the centre of the site.
Cost: Members £10, Guests £15, cash on the day please or by prior bank transfer.
RSVP: Jason Daff via email: northern@horticulture.org.uk
All members, guests and students are welcome to join this visit, please get in touch if you are interested in arranging car sharing opportunities.
Whilst in Durham, members may also want to explore Durham University Botanic Garden which is close by and well worth a visit.
Event Program
10.30 – Assemble and Welcome Refreshments
11.00 – Branch Annual Meeting (Papers to follow)
12.00 – Networking Buffet Lunch (Included in cost, subsidised by the branch)
12.45 – Photographs
13.00 – Tour of Crook Hall Gardens
14.30 – Vote of thanks, Depart or Free time in the Gardens
Access and Parking at Crook Hall Gardens
Easily accessible on foot from Durham Railway Station (10mins walk)
Parking available on site, free for National Trust Members, alternative pay and display parking is available in Sidegate Car Park (100m away) or The Sands multi-storey on the other side of the river.
From north or south, take the A690 into Durham and cross the river. Take the first exit at the next roundabout, Crook Hall Gardens is signposted via Framwelgate Waterside and Frankland Lane. It seems like you’re turning left off Milburngate into a multi storey car park, that’s correct. NB you’ll pass Sidegate pay and display car park before a National Trust sign and the entrance to Crook Hall Gardens NT car park.
