Biddulph Grange Gardens

Hmmm!  tough one this...


On our way back from Wales we did a bit of a detour and visited Biddulph Grange Gardens.  I am perfectly sure people must rave about this garden but I actually didn't like it.  It was interesting to have seen it and a pleasant way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine but its not for me.  


Possibly one of the reasons is that it isn't a plant person's garden.  It houses massive collections of specific species - dahlias, rhododendrons for example so it doesn't have the traditional billowing English borders and planting (like Hidcote for example) that I love.


It is described as follows:
James Bateman designed it as a rich and varied series of 'gardens within a garden', to amaze and impress his friends and visitors. 


I know grand houses and gardens were pretty much always built to impress; but often they are out to impress the world with what good taste you have because you are rich and well bred whereas this seems to be a sort of (1850s) Victorian bling affair - loadsamonee but not an atom of taste.


I also felt it was very much a man's garden - all tricks and construction and fiddling about.  The pathways through the heart of it are steep and winding and narrow and full of steps and (worse) very narrow tunnels so it is a constant battle of concentration to find your way and keep your footing.  I particularly don't like dark confining wet tunnels to grapple through just to get from one part of a garden to another.  All very clever and tricksy (and impressive!) but it doesn't make for a pleasant meander amongst flower beds which is pretty much my idea of a garden.


It is also unrewarding in that you can't go round the house and, indeed, get to the middle section of the terraces, because it has been converted to nine apartments (2bedrooms for 700K) so you really have to like the garden itself to make it a worth while trip.


All that complaining aside I am certain it is a case of each to their own as it seemed full of happy tourists/visitors enjoying their day out and Ken liked it because it was more interesting than a heap of plants! 


If you click the link in the left column you can look at some photos and maybe make up your own mind......