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About Crook Hall & Gardens
Most of England’s large city gardens have disappeared. Crook Hall, only a few hundred yards from the centre of Durham city, is a marvellous exception. It has six acres of romantic gardens, divided into eleven garden areas, each with its own unique atmosphere: The secret walled garden is a paradise of the rambling rose – Rambling Rector and Wedding Day clamber over the ancient fruit trees, wreathing them in colour and scent. The second walled garden is crammed with cottage garden plants and is at its riotous best in high summer, when oriental poppies jostle for position with lupins, sweet rocket and geranium cultivars. In contrast, the Cathedral Garden is a newer addition, with planting to mimic the stained glass windows of the cathedral high on the skyline. The wooded glade comes into its own in the spring when thousands of bulbs burst into life. Other garden areas include an orchard, (wonderful in blossom time), a moat pool and the Shakespeare Garden which features typical Elizabethan plants such as lovage, borage, lemon balm, marigold and meadowsweet. There is also a developing maze – much enjoyed by younger visitors. The Hall itself is also open to the public. Described by architecture historian Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘a precious medieval relic’, the fascinating grade one listed building is a wonderful jumble of historical styles; the banqueting hall dates back to the early thirteenth century and sits alongside the haunted Jacobean room. The newest part of the Hall is Georgian with tall windows looking serenely out over the gardens to the cathedral. No wonder Crook Hall is described in Country Life as having ‘history, romance and beauty’!
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