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Arley Hall & Gardens

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Opening Times 

Open 22 March - 27 September, Gardens, Grounds and Chapel, Tuesday - Sunday, 11.00-17.00; Hall, Tuesday, Sunday, and Bank Holiday Monday, 11.00-17.00.  
 

Arley Hall and Gardens Information

  
Arley Hall and GardensRich in history and beauty, Arley's award-winning gardens, beautiful Victorian Jacobean Hall, specialist plant nursery, Tudor Barn Restaurant, new conference and banqueting suite and exciting events programme offer a great day out for all the family throughout the changing seasons.
 
The gardens, recently voted in the Top 50 in Europe and in Britain's Top 10, are celebrated for one of the finest double herbaceous borders in the country and the avenue of giant Ilex columns are truly a plantman's paradise, with a breathtaking array of roses, perennials, exotic trees and flowering shrubs.
 
One of Cheshire's most charming country houses, the Hall, is a fine example of the Victorian Jacobean style. From the magnificent oak-panelled Library, to the Gallery with its stained-glass windows and ornate ceiling, through to the Emperor's Room - once the winter residence of Prince Louis Napoleon, the Hall is very much a living home and offers a welcoming atmosphere to all its visitors  
 

Admission

Gardens, Grounds and Chapel - adults £5.50, children £2.00, concessions £5.00, family ticket £13.00; adult groups £5.00 (min 15), concession groups £4.50 (min 15).
Hall (extra) - adults £2.50, children £1.00, concessions £2.00 

Facilities

The general facilities at Arley Hall include:

• Historic mansion
• Formal gardens
• Extensive landscaped park
• Olympia Conference and Banqueting Suite (new Jan 2009)
• Toilets, gift shop, plant nursery and tea room/restaurant 
 

How to get there

By road: Leave M56, jct 9,10; M6, jct 19,20 and follow signs. 
 

Car parks

Large car park on site  
 

Contact

Arley Hall & Gardens
Arley
Northwich
Cheshire
CW9 6NA
Tel: 01565 777353
 
General Manager - Garry Fortune
 
 
Weddings at Arley Hall: www.arleyweddings.com
 

Access

• designated parking
• unlimited access to the Gardens and ground floor of the Hall
• toilet facilities
 

Exploring further a field

Arley Hall is situated close (6km) to the Northwich Community Woodlands, including Marbury Country Park and the famous Anderton Boatlift with the pretty, historic village of Great Budworth on the way. Why not stretch your legs and try a walk on your day out?

 
 

Double herbaceous borders are at their best throughout the summer.

 
ArleyThe garden at Arley Hall is essentially a family garden, attached to a home, and part of a country estate. Such gardens where numerous in England until the Second World War; today fewer remain in private hands. In their heyday such gardens where very much ‘all rounders’ and a great deal was demanded of them. They had to be useful as well as ornamental and the kitchen garden was equally important as the pleasure grounds. In 1960 it became apparent that a garden of this size was too large for the exclusive enjoyment of one family and that to justify its existence it should be opened to public visitors.
 
The entrance to the garden is down an avenue of pleached lime trees leading to the Clock Tower. After passing under the archway, a path on the right turns into the Flag Garden,  so named because of the stone flags which form its paths. The central beds are planted with floribunda roses and dwarf lavender, and among the walls are Rhodochiton atrosanguineum, Schizophranga hydrangeoides and Abutilon ‘Kentish Belle’. Leaving the Flag garden, the path leads to the Furlong Walk, a terrace which forms the main axis of the garden and separates it from the park. Two hundred and twenty yards long (201m) it was made in place of the eighteenth-century drive to Arley Hall. Halfway along the Furlong walk a right hand turn leads into the Herbaceous Border, probably the best known feature of the garden. Originally called the Alcove Walk, it was one of the first borders of its kind to be planted in England. Apart from minor alterations, the border remains essentially unchanged in appearance. Many of the same plants, almost entirely herbaceous, are still used, although of course new additions are made continually.
 
Tea Cottage at ArleyAt the beginning of the summer the colours are largely restricted to pale blue, mauve, acid yellow, white and silver because these contrast well with the fresh green of the yew hedges. Later in the season the beds become more kaleidoscopic, but there is little danger of producing a garish effect in such a large scale arrangement. In normal seasons the border is alive for at least four months of the year. Even when no flowers are in bloom the vista of yew hedge and mellow brick wall punctuated by yew buttresses and terminating in the classical style pavilion is spectacular. An archway in a yew hedge leads from the border to a little half timbered building known as the Tea Cottage, which was formerly used for garden tea parties. The Tea Cottage is surrounded by a collection of shrub roses originally planted in 1961 when the formal topiary garden and geometrically shaped beds of hybrid tea roses were removed. At the end of the Herbaceous Border the view to the park is framed by an avenue of fourteen holm oaks (Quercus Ilex) known as the Ilex Avenue. The unusual shapes and sizes of these clipped trees are partly due to chance, originally clipped as pyramids of moderate size, they where left unclipped for several years during the first world war.
 
Sundial CircleWhen peace, and the gardeners returned, the trees had grown so much in height and girth that they could only be reshaped as giant cylinders. The Ilex Avenue leads to a flight of steps flanked by stone vases formerly on the pillars at the entrance to Marbury Hall, Comerbach. At the foot of the steps is the Sundial Circle,  a lawn surrounded by the shrub rose ‘Erfurt’ behind which are various flowering shrubs including: viburnum, azaleas, philadelphus, and kalmia. Growing amongst the shrubs is the perennial blue poppy Mecanopsis Grandis. 
 
Path through AzaleasA path bisecting the rim of the circle leads into the Rootery,  a rock garden which is in complete contrast to the rest of the garden. Here winding paths, roughly hewn steps, a fern fringed pool and a domed cave combine in a romantic concept of an alpine dell. Until 1939 the Rootery was preserved as a traditional rock garden containing the usual collections of alpine plants, but by the end of the Second World War all of the smaller varieties and most of the rocks had disappeared under a jungle of weeds. A few plants survived from the last century: the ‘royal fern’ Osmunda regalis, a dwarfed Japanese Maple, and the giant saxifrage Peltiphyllum peltatum. Some azaleas and rhododendrons introduced between the wars grew well and this seemed a good site for a shrub garden.
 
You can leave the Rootery either by climbing the steps behind the pool or via a gradually ascending path past the cave. Either way leads to the Rough, until 1961 the rough was a small area of little significance. During the restoration the garden it was enlarged to include an animals drinking pool in order to provide a site for aquatic plants such as Gunnera Manicata. The rough is now kept as a semi wild site for trees, shrubs and naturalised bulbs. The Walled Garden, entered through the double gates bearing the initials ‘R.E.E.W’ was one of the kitchen garden enclosures typical of those attached to large country houses throughout the country. The walls where covered with fruit trees and an avenue of apples and pears.

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