One of Britain’s best-kept secrets
Three miles east of Worcester surrounded by glorious countryside lays one of Britain’s best-kept secrets, Spetchley Park Gardens. Spetchley has been home to the Berkeley family for over 400 years and successive generations have lovingly collected and planted rare plants from around the world, creating one of the largest private collections of plant varieties outside the major botanical gardens.
Set within 30 acres, Spetchley is not a formal paradise of neatly manicured lawns or beds but rather a wondrous display of plants, shrubs, and trees woven into a garden of many rooms and vistas all with a fascinating story to tell. Here you will find most aspects of gardening, the formal and informal, woodland and herbaceous. A garden full of secrets, every corner reveals some new vista, some new treasure of the plant world, whether it be tree, shrub or plant.
This is a garden for all seasons; April and May produce a wonderful display of spring bulbs, especially daffodils, as well as flowering trees and shrubs. From May to June is the time of the big and beautiful Peony’s, strawberries and cream, to blooms the size of dinner plates. The large collection of roses, both old-fashioned and modern, come into their own in June and July, whilst July, August and September reveal the great herbaceous borders in all their glory. Late September sees the start of the Autumn tints.
Spetchley extends a warm welcome to groups, and offers discounted admission for groups of over 25 people, coach parking, and a free meal in The Granary Coffee Shop for the coach driver or group leader (to the value of £8). Guided tours of the Gardens that highlight it’s fascinating history, and the stories behind its plants and trees, are available by prior appointment (enquiries@spetchleygardens.co.uk).
The Granary Coffee Shop, located within the old laundry of the estate, provides an intimate setting for lunch and afternoon tea, serving a delicious range of home-made sandwiches, cakes and snacks using locally sourced produce and has both indoor and outdoor seating. In addition, the Welcome Centre offers a selection of garden themed gifts and souvenirs with a range of seasonal plants and shrubs for sale.
The Gardens are open in 2022 from 23 March to 2nd October from Wednesdays to Sunday (and Bank Holiday Mondays) and also on Saturdays and Sundays in October. For further information email enquiries@spetchleygardens.co.uk, visit www.spetchleygardens.co.uk or telephone 01905 345106.
