Since 2004 Burncoose has been involved in a major project to design and create a large scale woodland garden at Belvoir Castle for Her Grace, The Duchess of Rutland.
Unexpectedly Belvoir has very little in the way of formal or informal gardens around the castle. The Duchess was therefore keen to create something completely new in a sheltered valley overlooked from the castle battlements. The template for the new garden is based on the informal 100 acre woodland gardens at Caerhays Castle (the sister garden to Burncoose ) and at Burncoose.
Over the last 5 years huge areas of bramble and ponticum scrub have been cleared to make way for massed plantings of camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and other rarer ornamental trees and shrubs. The oak canopy has been thinned and new vistas from the castle opened up for spring and summer visitors to enjoy from different overlooking angles.
The project is ongoing year by year but will still take many more years to mature and become the planned visitor attraction which is intended. However already the new plantings have taken hold and are progressing well in and around the newly created paths.
April 2014 - Duke’s Walk Garden
Burncoose Nurseries are delighted to have designed and created a new 11 acre woodland garden for Her Grace The Duchess of Rutland. This represents a massive extension of the Spring Gardens at Belvoir Castle which Burncoose have been helping design and expand over the last 7 years, working closely with Nikki of Applewhite Garden Design.
The new garden was almost completely cleared of trees and scrub during January and February 2014 ready for laying out and planting in April.
The design centres around over 50 different Asiatic magnolias and their best known hybrids as well as a variety of more unusual spring flowering trees. Inter-planted between the magnolias are bold groups of rhododendrons and azaleas. Interspersed throughout the site are over 100 different specimen camellias.
Within the new garden are collections of Enkianthus and Styrax with the intention of developing what may one day become a natural collection of these two exceptional but little known species.
The landscape setting of Belvoir Castle is one of Capability Brown’s best known landscapes. The developing spring gardens sit comfortably within this overall design and add a new dimension for visitors to Belvoir Castle to enjoy.
April 2012 - We have have just completed another phase of woodland garden design and planting at Belvoir. The ‘Spring Garden’ at Belvoir had become overgrown and was in urgent need of restoration. The clearance of encroaching saplings, yew and ponticum was completed in February to leave the choice specimen plants from 3 previous phases of planting intact. The collection of rare and unusual spring flowering trees and shrubs has now been greatly increased and we all now hope for a not too dry summer.
Visitors to the CLA Game Fair in July at Belvoir will be able to see our work to the west of the castle.
