The Walled Garden at Scampston

To be found in peaceful North Yorkshire, the Walled Garden is a stunningly beautiful contemporary garden, quite unlike any other. Open to the public for the first time in 2004, people visit from all over the world and it has been received with great acclaim.

In 2006 The House and Garden were featured in the television series 'Hidden Treasure Houses' on Five. Open for just one month a year, and sitting in its own, more traditional gardens, Scampston Hall is one of the finest country houses in Yorkshire. Lovingly restored by the Legards, it is a family home and contains many fine works of art, furniture and china.

NEWLY opened for 2008, the Woodland Walk provides visitors with the oportunity to visit the traditional gardens aroung the house including the Rock Garden, the Woodland Garden and the 'Capability' Brown lakes and park.

The Walled Garden

Set within the 18th century walls of the original kitchen garden for Scampston Hall, today the Walled Garden has an exciting and unashamedly modern feel to it and complements the adjacent 18th century 'Capability' Brown park.

The garden  had been derelict for nearly fifty years when, with their usual enthusiasm and vision Sir Charles and Lady Legard undertook the huge renovation task. Not content with a traditional restoration project - they had already done that in the House and surrounding gardens, they set about producing a stunning garden with a contemporary feel.

Having enlisted the help of leading garden designer, Piet Oudolf, and a dedicated team of gardeners, led by Tim Marshall, they are delighted with the result.

The Restaurant

From the start of the 2008 season The Garden Restaurant at Scampston will be run by the Terry and Belinda Williams of the Yorkshire Party Company.

The restuarant is open from 10.00 to 17.00 daily, except Mondays (open Bank Holiday Mondays) from 21 March to the 2 November, serving coffee, delicious home made light lunches and teas. Many of the ingredients are grown in the walled garden, or sourced from organic suppliers in the locality.

The House

This is a family home and there are no ropes or other barriers to be seen; Sir Charles, assisted by a friendly team of guides, enjoys taking people round his home in small groups so that everyone can see everything at close quarters and ask plenty of questions.

The House dates from 1690 but was extensively remodelled between 1795 and 1800 by the architect Thomas Leverton. It was redecorated internally in 1860 and again in 1910. Sir Charles and Lady Legard faced a major task, therefore, in the mid 1990s as the house had to be re-roofed, re-wired and re-plumbed followed by almost complete redecoration.

Paint scrapes were carried out and as much of the old decorative work as possible was retained. The three years’ dedicated effort was rewarded by being voted Country Life “House of the Year” in 2000.

Scampston is home to a superb collection of paintings, porcelain and furniture. The pictures include works by Thomas Gainsborough, Samuel Scott, Richard Wilson and others.

The aim has been to create a comfortable family home which can accommodate the needs of the younger generation whilst retaining as much of the old as possible.

www.scampston.co.uk