TULIP PATCH

The Tulip Patch is a small area of mature trees close to the Stables, quite different in character to the rest of the gardens. It is small, enclosed and intimate. A path circles past a number of small grottoes constructed by James Pulham, the Victorian gardener famous for his fantastical creations. Using real and fake stone - cement and rock carefully shaped to be almost indistinguishable from the real thing - Pulham built his caves, grottoes and water features in many of the most fashionable gardens of Victorian Britain. One example was for the Prince of Wales at Sandringham and another was at Gunnersbury - another Rothschild Garden.

The Tulip Patch was originally part of the walk enjoyed by Baron Ferdinand and his guests, from the pristine Dairy (where the cows had Sèvres/Meissen name plates around their necks), through the pure fantasy of the Water Garden, into the Glasshouses, now long gone but once amongst the largest in Britain, and then to The Tulip Patch, the Stables and up to the House. During Spring enjoy the snowdrops as you walk through this part of the Grounds.

Our aim has been, as best we can, to recreate this journey. Although the original path from the Stables to the House was lost decades ago, we have cut a new one through a bank of mature trees.The Tulip Patch is now open to the public, with its Pulham stone made safe after many years of neglect.

This season look out for the new pool and waterfall which have been restored, and plantings of Japanese maples and evergreen bamboo.