Despite living in North Yorkshire for a number of years now, this was our first visit to Beningbrough Hall and Gardens. Although this beautiful Baroque mansion is just over three hundred years old and situated in the village of Beningbrough just off the A19 Northwest of York. Today’s visit was to have a browse around the gardens with Meg and Gracie. It was a lovely sunny morning when we arrived at just after 10.00am, we popped into the café for coffee and cake before heading out to have a stroll along the gravelled path, under the Clock Tower to the beautiful looking stately house. The house was open to the public but as we had Meg and Grace with us, we headed back to the café area and had a very pleasant browse around the cobbled Courtyard admiring all the plants and shrubs for sale. From here it is just a short stroll across the drive to the Walled garden and under the Pear arch. There are hundreds of fruit trees in the garden as well as a wide range of vegetables, all grown using traditional methods in the two acres of Kitchen Garden. The harvested products are used in the farm shop whilst surplus is offered for donation in the outdoor shop.

The formal gardens were beautiful with a wide range of shrubs and plants which attracted lots of Bees, Butterflies and Insects.

In 2016 and to celebrate the 300 years anniversary, one of the top British garden designers Andy Sturgeon was set a task to re design, refresh, Improve and formulate a long-term plan for the eight-acre gardens. Today, the Mediterranean Garden is part of that redesign and redevelopment plan and is currently closed to the public whilst work continues with its development. As the development work continues apace, it is anticipated to be complete during the summer. We will have to keep an eye on their website or Facebook group as the garden nears completion, looking through the open gate it doesn’t look to far away from being complete and open to the public.

After our stroll around the Walled Garden, we headed back to the café for brunch, we decided to sit outside under the shade of an umbrella where we enjoyed a very pleasant meal. Suitably refreshed we headed back to the Courtyard to have another look at the plants and browse through the shop, unfortunately by this time, the weather deteriorated somewhat, the sky became full of heavy looking grey clouds which after a few minutes suddenly turned to rain, so we decided to head back to the car with Meg and Gracie for the forty-five-minute drive home. We will be coming back on another day to have a look around the house.