Wallington Hall: Views around the Grounds and Walled Garden

Friday 17 February 2012

Views around the Grounds and Walled Garden - 16/02/2012.

The severe frosts of last week have left us and for half term holiday week here at Wallington we have seen some higher temperatures. The better weather has seen a large amount of visitors coming to Wallington to visit the House go around the Grounds and for children, to take part in the art and craft activities. One of the popular activities was to make a bird box. The large amount of visitors were also benefiting from free admission to this National Trust property.

This was the first activity of the new year here at Wallington. A wide variety of events are planned every year and this has been a major factor in Wallington, becoming the most visited property in Northumberland.

Garden Pond was still covered with ice and some children had dragged branches out of the woods to throw onto the frozen surface. The Walled Garden continues to develop as the year progresses. I was sent down to an East Lawn border in the Walled Garden, my task was to clear all of the leaves and dead growth that had collected.

Before lunch I had cleared and tidied up about three quarters of the border. It meant a large number of trips with the wheelbarrow to the compost heap and the fire that other volunteers started. After lunch the raked over area had a series of small footprints from one side to the other. Even when I was working small children came through the hedge and onto the border!!!!!!!! One of the disadvantages of school holidays. After all of the work, the border is now ready for spring with some bulbs sending through their shoots.

I took the following photographs before starting work this morning: