Cambridge Garden visits 2014
Childerley Hall, Dry Drayton
The house at Childerley is the surviving redbrick wing of a celebrated Elizabethan House, where Charles I was once held under house arrest and sits in a garden that has been created by the Jenkins family, and is adjacent to one of the longest timber-framed barns in England.
The romantic garden is known for its outstanding collection of old fashioned roses, an herbaceous border of riotous colour and large expertly maintained lawn. It has many paths to explore that lead to water features, sculptures, a Tudor Chapel, intimate summer house, croquet lawn and a magnificent lake.
The College Gardens
Our expert guides gave us some of the history of the colleges and how they came into being and you can read more about each of them by visiting the links below.
Chauffered Punting on the 'Backs'
Island Hall, Godmanchester
Island Hall, Godmanchester is an elegant riverside mansion built in the late 1740s. The house is situated in 3 acres of gardens including an ornamental Saxon island in the river Great Ouse.
The Manor, Hemingford Grey
The Manor at Hemingford Grey is a moated house surrounded by four acres of garden renowned for its collection of over 200 old roses and a collection of irises containing many famous Dykes medal winners, most of them dating from the 1950s. You get a first impression of the garden when you arrive via the towpath running along side the river Great Ouse. With its large herbaceous borders of mainly scented plants the garden gives the feeling of being a cottage garden full of favourite plants in a rather formal setting of lawns with topiary coronation shapes and chess pieces in their black and white planted squares.