Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
Moderator: Izhar
Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
Last week I had the pleasure to visit Levens Hall. This is a magnificent Elizabethan mansion built around a 13th Century pele tower, it was expanded and rebuilt towards the end of the 16th Century. It is the family home of the Bagots, and contains a collection of Jacobean furniture, fine paintings, the earliest English patchwork and many other beautiful objects
The world-famous award winning gardens were laid out in 1694. The yew and box topiary, beech hedges and colourful seasonal beds create a stunning visual impact. The topiary garden has huge abstract shapes, pyramids and columns reminiscent of monstrous chess men. As stately gardens go, it is a modest size but the layout provides a stunning visual treat and is a credit to the designers. The truly amazing gardens are laid out in a series of rooms from which you don't see the next vista until you turn round a corner and see something else more spectacular than the first. Many of the yew/beech hedging is over 300 years old, some of its framework being so twisted and knarled that it has to be supported by a series of wooden scaffolding in order to maintain the original shapes.
I saw some amazing examples, the Great Umbrella at 30ft height, the Judge’s Wig, the chess pieces, which are awe-inspiring. But my favourites were the more human-scale geometric shapes in box, which are about six feet.
Currently there are four full time gardeners and a host of volunteers to maintain and trim the gardens which takes at least six month, cranes are hired to do the taller 30ft high trees like the umbrella. 'It is amazing to think that gardeners going back centuries have done the same thing here, year upon year. If I won the lottery and became a multi multi millionaire Its not a garden that I would see recreated in my lifetime.It’s a very intense garden, with lots of flowers and shrubs.
The world-famous award winning gardens were laid out in 1694. The yew and box topiary, beech hedges and colourful seasonal beds create a stunning visual impact. The topiary garden has huge abstract shapes, pyramids and columns reminiscent of monstrous chess men. As stately gardens go, it is a modest size but the layout provides a stunning visual treat and is a credit to the designers. The truly amazing gardens are laid out in a series of rooms from which you don't see the next vista until you turn round a corner and see something else more spectacular than the first. Many of the yew/beech hedging is over 300 years old, some of its framework being so twisted and knarled that it has to be supported by a series of wooden scaffolding in order to maintain the original shapes.
I saw some amazing examples, the Great Umbrella at 30ft height, the Judge’s Wig, the chess pieces, which are awe-inspiring. But my favourites were the more human-scale geometric shapes in box, which are about six feet.
Currently there are four full time gardeners and a host of volunteers to maintain and trim the gardens which takes at least six month, cranes are hired to do the taller 30ft high trees like the umbrella. 'It is amazing to think that gardeners going back centuries have done the same thing here, year upon year. If I won the lottery and became a multi multi millionaire Its not a garden that I would see recreated in my lifetime.It’s a very intense garden, with lots of flowers and shrubs.
Re: Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
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the clock tower in common with older time keeping mechanisms has only one hand
the clock tower in common with older time keeping mechanisms has only one hand
Re: Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
My apologies for the long posts, I do hope this time I have got photobucket correct
Last edited by newton on July 8th, 2014, 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
Thank you for shareing
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Re: Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
What a delightful view. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Levens Hall Topiary in the Lake District UK
i am watching again and again that marvelous great umbrella..it is a mesmerizing scene... cannot imagine such sample in Pakistan due to climate difference.thanks for sharing such beauties with us..