Benington Lordship

About Benington Lordship

This is an old family garden of 7 acres made by the present owner’s great grandmother at the beginning of the C20. It was open for the National Gardens Scheme in 1927 and this has become an annual tradition.
The garden is cleverly designed on the site of a Norman castle and across the side of a steep hill merging into the surrounding parkland and lakes. The chief features are the earthworks and ruined keep of the castle, a magnificent neo-Norman folly built by James Pulham in the 1830s, a Queen Anne manor house with an Edwardian addition and a large veranda. The garden is particularly noted for the display of snowdrops in February.
Restoration of the rose garden was completed in 2016 which provides formality and structure whilst allowing the visitor to appreciate the interesting architecture. The walled garden was updated in 2019 with a more modern approach and includes a wildflower meadow punctuated by hornbeam pillars, whilst still retaining one half as a productive, floral vegetable garden.
New naturalistic planting of the main border began in 2023 with low maintenance plants which are in tune with nature and have been selected to tolerate our changing climate. A new perennial wildflower meadow is being established to merge the end of the long border with the adjacent orchard, creating a floral understory to the apple trees.
A wildlife friendly policy is followed throughout the garden so there are large areas of wild flowers and long grass and a healthy bird population flourishes.