Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens

About Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens

The gardens that surround the Hall are known for their relaxed charm and ‘haphazard luxuriance’. Restoration work means they are being returned to their heyday of the 1930’s when society decorator Nancy Lancaster laid out the flower gardens, with the help of garden designer Norah Lindsay and landscape architect Geoffrey Jellicoe. Despite their grand canvas, they have an intimate, feminine feel, occasionally broken by wide pastoral views over a lost medieval village or the 18th century Lake.

The Herbaceous Borders and Rose Gardens
Nancy Lancaster’s shabby chic style lives on in the overflowing herbaceous borders and rose gardens, which reach their romantic peak in June and July. Lancaster was a great champion of old fashioned roses with their heady scents and delicate shading, and she also revelled in cottage garden planting on a grand scale. Our Double Border with its pastel shading is glimpsed between bulging yew loggias. The Long border in more robust hues of ‘hot’ colours flanks the west wall of the Walled Garden, following the pathway to our old Lavender garden.

The Sunken Garden and Philadelphus Garden
Today, the Sunken Garden is less formal than it was on the late 1920’s, when the space was used for cocktail soirées. Embraced by billowing box hedging, the garden is now filled with perennial white sweet peas, astrantia, phlox, white tulips, sarcococca and anemones, alongside annuals and biennials such as orlaya, nicotiana and white foxgloves. The shaded setting is a tranquil resting spot with views to the hall’s south pavilion. Across the west terrace is the restored Philadelphus garden, interpreted from the designs proposed by Geoffrey Jellicoe in the early 1950’s.

The Walled Garden
The garden’s secret heart is Walled Garden. The warm brick walls of this uniquely-shaped garden encompass a nearly two acre space. With swathes of cut flowers grown to decorate the Hall, the gardens can be best enjoyed in the late summer when the incredible variety of dahlia flowers are in bloom.

The Hall is open on Sundays, Tuesday and Wednesdays to both day visitors and for group bookings. Guided tours are available to explore the layered history of the hall. The tea room offers light lunches, cream teas & cakes and is open from 11am-5pm.

Beautiful interiors brought together by Nancy Lancaster in the 1930s, in a Palladian style hall designed by James Gibbs. The recently restored laundry and servants' quarters in the Hall are open to the public, providing visitors the incredible opportunity to experience life 'below stairs'. This garden is proud to provide plants for the National Garden Scheme’s Show Garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2024.