We will visit four gardens over the two days of Wednesday June 25 and Thursday June 26 2025 (although you can attend on just one day if you wish). There is also the option of a dinner together on the Wednesday evening.
Day 1
On Wednesday 25 June, we will visit the garden at Cottesbrooke Hall in the morning and Thorp Malsor Hall in the afternoon. We will have lunch together at the Tollemache Arms pub in Harrington.
Cottesbrooke Hall was purchased in 1936 by the Macdonald-Buchanan family and the 13-acre garden which they took over was in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style and had been designed by Robert Weir Schultz in the first decade of the 20th century. The gardens wrap around the west side of the house in a series of ‘rooms’ divided by formal hedging and warm brick walls, with views and vistas punctuated by statuary. Beyond the gardens, the park provides a stunning backdrop with vistas towards far distant ridges and churches, notably All Saints Brixworth (680 AD), lakes and wonderful trees. Flanking a small brook on the other side of the park is the Wild Garden. Spring bulbs, gunnera, fine acers and wonderful specimen trees abound. The landscape architect, Geoffrey Jellicoe, was subsequently employed to help develop the Forecourt which contains large yew cones, lead statues and blue agapanthus in pots. Sylvia Crowe developed the Pool Garden was once the laundry drying yard for the Hall but is now surrounded by borders brimming over with dahlias in late summer.
After lunch together at the Tollemache Arms in Harrington (cost included in price of ticket) we drive to Thorp Malsor Hall This is the home of Crispin and Louise Holborow and is not normally open to the public. The Hall dates from the Jacobean period and sashed windows were added in the 18th century. The garden is described as primarily a woodland garden with some additional water features and topiary to and Bunny Guiness designed some areas.
There is the option to join a group dinner at the Barton Hall Hotel near Kettering on the Wednesday evening (see below for further information).
Day 2
We will visit the garden at Kelmarsh Hall on the morning of Thursday 26 June. The Palladian-style hall was built in 1732 for William Hanbury, a famous antiquarian, by Francis Smith of Warwick. Pevsner described the building as, “a perfect, extremely reticent design… done in an impeccable taste.” The hall is still surrounded by a working estate which comprises both parkland and gardens.
Refreshments will be served upon arrival and we will then have a guided tour around the gardens which surround the Hall and which are known for their relaxed charm and ‘haphazard luxuriance’. Restoration work is being undertaken to return the design to their heyday of the 1930’s when society decorator Nancy Lancaster laid out the flower gardens, with the help of garden designer Norah Lindsay and landscape architect Geoffrey Jellicoe. Nancy Lancaster’s ‘shabby chic’ style lives on in the overflowing herbaceous borders and rose gardens. The Sunken Garden is less formal now than it was in the late 1920’s, when the space was used for cocktail soirées. Embraced by billowing box hedging, the garden is now filled with perennial white sweet peas, astrantia, phlox, white tulips, sarcococca and anemones, alongside annuals and biennials such as orlaya, nicotiana and white foxgloves. The shaded setting is a tranquil resting spot with views to the hall’s south pavilion. Across the west terrace is the restored Philadelphus garden, interpreted from the designs proposed by Geoffrey Jellicoe in the early 1950’s.
We will then drive to Coton Manor for lunch followed by a garden visit. Coton Manor has been the home of Ian and Susie Pasler-Tyler for more than thirty years. (Many EBTS members will be familiar with Susie’s book ‘Gardening with colour at Coton’ and EBTS UK member Dr Ann Benson’s book ‘A History of Coton Manor and its Garden‘). This is a ten-acre garden set in peaceful countryside with old yew and holly hedges and extensive herbaceous borders containing many unusual plants. It was voted ‘The Nation’s Favourite Garden’ in 2019 by garden visitors in conjunction with English Garden magazine and the National Gardens Scheme. It was featured in the 2022 Channel 5 series on ‘Great British Gardens’ and described by Country Life as a “symphony of colour where flamingos mix with flowers.” The specialist nursery there sells many plant varieties propagated from the garden.
Accommodation
Please make your own arrangements for accommodation. The hotel we recommend for this visit is the Barton Hall Hotel near Kettering:
Barton Hall Hotel and Spa
Barton Road
Barton Seagrave
Kettering (Northamptonshire)
NN15 6RS
01536-515505
enquiries@bartonhall.com
www.bartonhall.com
The hotel offers a variety of room categories and it should be noted that there is no penalty at this hotel for single occupancy (room rate is actually lower): please quote ‘EBTS’ if you make a reservation. This hotel is also where we will be hosting an optional group dinner, which we do hope you will attend. You can, of course, join the dinner even if you chose to stay in another hotel. There are several other hotels in and around Kettering, including a Premier Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Travelodge.
Group Dinner
There will be an optional dinner at the Barton Hall Hotel on the evening of Wednesday 25 June, which is open to everyone regardless of which hotel you are staying in. The cost will be £60 per person for two courses, excluding drinks. If you register for the dinner, you will be invited to choose in advance from at least four options for main course and dessert.
Cost of tickets
£140 per person for EBTS members for both days (including refreshments during garden visits and lunches on both days) or £75 for just one day (either Wednesday 25 June of Thursday 26 June)
£60 for two-course dinner (excluding drinks) at Barton Hall Hotel on Wednesday 25 June