Garden Visits

Leighton Hall – an intimate family garden

It is the first sight of Leighton Hall that visitors never forget. Nestling against a panorama of Lakeland Hills its grey limestone walls contrast with the gentle rolling green countryside beyond.

Indeed the house could be straight out of a film set, its façade in the neo-Gothic style of the early 19th century, perfectly set off in its surroundings. Today, it falls to Mr and Mrs R.Gillow Reynolds to carry on the care of this beautiful house, the ancestral seat of the famous Gillow furniture making family. Indeed there are many lovely and unusual Gillow pieces in the house.

The garden at Leighton is a delightful small intimate garden, very much a family garden and one which can be comfortably enjoyed, without the visitor feeling overawed. Mrs Suzie Reynolds has supervised the garden for the last thirty years with the help of the Estate Manager and a full-time gardener.

When she first came to live at Leighton Suzie Reynolds had to set about bringing some shape to the existing flower beds and increase the perennial planting. Mrs Reynolds confesses that she originally knew nothing about gardening and learned a lot from the back of seed packets.

In keeping with a house of this size and period Leighton has a wonderful walled garden (a favourite place of Mrs Reynolds) which has been divided into four distinct areas of planting. Now visitors can enjoy a maze, a kitchen garden, traditional flower borders and a herb garden area. The kitchen garden has been inspired by Rosemary Verey and visitors will find this interesting.

Preferring "vulgar abundance" to straight lines, Suzie Reynolds has created traditional herbaceous borders. She has also created a woodland walk, especially splendid in spring with snowdrops, bluebells and daffodils and where you can stroll to the Russia house to sit and drink in some splendid views.

There are big rambling roses on one side of the lawn which extends the full length of the kitchen garden wall. Roses such as Rambling Rector do well in this part of south lakeland and are much in evidence. There is a relic of pre-Jacobite Leighton in the form of the sun-dial on the rose lawn near the pond.

Mrs Reynolds confesses that she doesn’t have any grand plans for the garden prefering to make it a nice place for people to come to - a family garden - and in that she has succeeded. She doesn’t find gardening a chore and says:  "I'm hoping that if I'm very good in this life I'll come back as a gardener next time round."

Inspiration

Leighton Hall is a popular venue for film crews and even more popular as a fairy tale setting for weddings and it is easy to see why.

The most pleasant gardens are the natural ones which evolve in tune with their surroundings. As Mrs Reynolds confirms - looking at other peoples' gardens always inspires and gives ideas. She finds the garden at Leighton relaxing and peaceful and so will you.

How to get there

Leighton is easy to reach being just 10 minutes from exit 35 off the M6 from which it is well signposted. Parking is free and it is open between May to September. There is a tea room, plant sales area and a series of events throughout the year including a plant fair, car rally, craft fair and Shakespeare in the garden. Further details on www.leightonhall.co.uk