Monty Don’s British Gardens visits Norfolk’s Houghton Hall
Monty Don at Houghton Hall
Last summer Monty Don filmed at Norfolk’s Houghton Hall, inside the walled garden, as part of his tour of British Gardens.
You can see his visit on BBC iplayer episode 3. Spoiler alert – you can jump to the final 8 minutes of the programme to see Houghton – this really is the highlight of the episode!
Houghton Hall should definitely be considered for a full day’s outing if you’re staying at North Cottage Cromer this summer.
Houghton Hall is around 60 minutes drive from Cromer. Tickets can be booked in advance direct from the Houghton Hall website £22 full entry booked online, £12 walled garden only. There is plenty of free parking (it’s worth paying for full entry if you want to see the house and the outdoor sculpture park).
As you can see Houghton Hall is a spectacular house, and as well as some of the rooms that are open to the public, another significant attraction is the world class sculpture park.
Exhibits in the sculpture park include Rachel Whiteread’s concrete inside-out shed named ‘Houghton Hut’. Richard’s Long’s Full Moon Circle laid in a huge splash of alluring slate, and Ryan Gander’s ‘More Really Shiny Things That Don’t Mean Anything’ (below) . These really are as interesting installations as they sound, and there are plenty more where they came from! Fun for kids too.
In fact there’s plenty of interest dotted around the extensive estate, including an 18th Century Ha-Ha. This is a dry, brick walled ditch that was used by landscape designers to give the appearance of a long and rolling lawn into the distance (like an infinity pool), but also had the advantage of keeping the livestock out. Imagine the expense of all those handmade bricks but if you can afford a house that big…
Among other attractions at Houghton Hall in Norfolk are the Model Soldier Museum, the obligatory cafe in the stable courtyard and near here you can also take a peek in the tack room and marvel at the extremely polished leather on display!
The Walled Garden
But for us, when we visit Houghton Hall, the highlight is undoubtedly the walled garden. So we got quite a surprise, when we watched Monty Don’s visit, to discover this magnificent walled marvel is a relatively new addition to the estate. It was added in 1991 within the walls of the old kitchen garden.
If you visit Houghton you’ll be astounded that such incredibly mature and elaborate gardens could be so relatively new. The hedges, topiary and lawns are truly breath-taking as you can see from our photo (below). This was taken when we visited for Andrea’s birthday in August 2023. (All the photos on this page are from our various visits, except the photo of Monty and the Houghton gardening team from their facebook page).
The walled garden, like the rest of the estate, is all imagined on a considerable scale. If you’re thinking ‘walled’ equals ‘small’, think again. It’s 5 acres, divided into individual ‘rooms’. There’s a rose garden, a mediterranean garden (one of our favourites with its many potted succulents and agaves) pleached banks of trees, the sculpted hedges and glasshouses.
There’s also a sunken water feature, intricately built in stone, with benches at each corner – where we enjoyed a rest from the summer heat. Planted terracotta pots protect the deep water edge, the splashing water completes the scene and provides a cooling illusion. Everything within these walls is immaculate.
As keen allotment owners we especially love the kitchen garden. It’s beautifully marked out with dug beds, cane supports and nets where necessary, with all the plants in immaculate health and nicely labelled. For us, it puts Kew kitchen garden to shame. The paths here are tightly mown lawn sharply edged, just as they should be for the traditional look.
The gardens are maintained by a team of full time gardeners and supplemented with some very eager and knowledgeable volunteers who are happy to share their enthusiasm. It really is the kind of garden you would want to volunteer to work in just for the pleasure (I know if you’re not a gardener this might be a stretch too far for the imagination!).
More Gardens to Visit in Norfolk
If Monty’s visit to Houghton whets your appetite for a stay in Norfolk there are some other great gardens you should put on your schedule. Our favourites include the walled garden at National Trust property Felbrigg Hall just 10 minutes from North Cottage Cromer and East Ruston Old Vicarage Garden which is about 30 minutes drive south along the coast. If you’re driving Houghton way the Royal residence at Sandringham Estate might also find its way onto your wish list.
Links from this blog:
Houghton Hall tickets
BBC iplayer Monty’s British Gardens episode 3 (Houghton)
North Cottage Cromer – take a look around our house and gardens you can even stay here!
