East Riddlestone Hall: Touring The National Trust Gardens With Head Gardener Ben Cooper
East Riddleston Hall is a National Trust property in West Yorkshire that was famously used as a filming location for the 1992 and 2009 film adaptations of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
The gardens at East Riddleston were designed by Graham Stuart Thomas in the 1970s, with additional rooms added in the years that followed by the Trust.
I visited the gardens on a rainy day in spring to speak with the Head Gardener Ben Cooper and explore the gardens, their history and what is currently thriving at this time of year.
Spring Bulbs Aplenty
“This time of year we’ve got all the spring bulbs up, so we’ve got lots of Leucojums in the main borders that add a nice splash of white,” shares Ben.
“We’ve also got a lot of really nice successional bulbs, such as Snake’s Head Fritillaries and Daffodils. One particular favourite of mine is Narcissus ‘Thalia’.
“In the wild garden, there are some more unusual bulbs, such as wild tulips and my personal favourite, Camassias, which will be in full bloom in a couple of weeks.
“Hellebores have done particularly well this year and seem to have been in flower for weeks and weeks. We have a nice patch of hellebores tucked away in the shadier parts of the garden where they seem to cope very well.”
Exploring The Garden
“Our main herbaceous borders are designed in this ‘L’ shape,” explains Ben, as we walk around them.
“As you can see, we’ve got some Erythroniums coming through, which addd a splash of yellow along the edges.
“Although it isn’t in flower at the moment, we’ve got one of the biggest clematis I’ve ever worked on or had in a garden. It grows against our huge cherry tree, so we get the white blossom of the cherry that fades into this waterfall of clematis flowers.”
“Also looking great at the moment is our herb border,” he continues.
“The idea was taken from Culpeper’s Herbal, so it features herbs that would have been used at the time the Hall was first created.
“We’ve got lots of herbs in here, such as Valerian, Angelica, Mugwort and Soapwort, which is particualrly interesting as when the leaves are rubbed with water, it produces a lava-like soap.
“We also grow more culinary herbs on one side of the garden, so we’ve got Mint, Rosemary, Oregano, and Fennel.”
“We’ve got a new section called the Wellbeing Garden, which we designed with Dementia Friendly Keighley,” says Ben.
“Not only did we create this space with their practices in mind, they trained our staff to become dementia aware.
“It’s under a canopy of trees, making it quite a shaded garden, so it’s a tranquil area.
“There’s lots of green plants like ferns and Hostas. It also has a water feature, which adds a peaceful backdrop to the space.”
Greener Gardening Practices
“We try to follow greener garden principles at East Riddlesden,” says Ben.
“We don’t use any chemicals in the gardens, we compost everything that we can and we shred materials so it composts quicker.
“We don’t use any mains water in the garden either, so all the water we use is rainwater harvested from various rooftops.
“In our composting area, we’ve got large bays filled with this year’s compost, older compost and two huge leaf piles, which we let rot down into a leaf mould that we can then use.
“We can mulch our entire borders in the garden with what we produce on-site, which is something we take serious pride in.”
Visiting East Riddlesden
“Even though we’re quite a small garden, you can go into five or six different areas and hopefully get a different feel in each one,” explains Ben.
“Because of this, we offer a variety of spaces to visit in just one garden, which means you can visit more than once.”
If you want to find out more about visiting East Riddlesden Hall, head over to The National Trust’s website.
