Unearth The Secrets Of Tylney Hall’s Gardens

Tylney Hall is getting ready to open its historic parkland estate through the annual National Gardens Scheme (NGS).

The 66 acres of grounds at the award-winning country house hotel at Rotherwick, near Hook, will be open to the public for the first time this year on Sunday, May 18th.  Usually the woodlands, lakes, waterfalls and manicured gardens, some of which date back to the 18th century, are only open to hotel residents. 

Over the past 16 years the grounds at Tylney Hall have attracted record crowds and have also been one of the National Gardens Scheme’s most popular gardens in Hampshire. Last year Tylney Hall was presented with a commemorative trowel to honour its long association with the NGS.

The attractions include landscaped gardens designed by the influential 19th century garden designer Gertrude Jekyll and a tree-lined vista offering one of the longest uninterrupted views in Hampshire.

The boat house lake and the top lake of the water garden were both present in the 18th century and some of the mature trees were planted during the first half of the 19th century. The designer Robert Weir Schultz, a follower of the Arts and Crafts movements, added a range of garden buildings including a boathouse, summerhouse, greenhouses, water tower and orangery between 1901-1905.  In 1906 he asked Gertrude Jekyll to produce designs for a wild water garden and she also prepared planting plans and suggestions for other areas of the estate, including the area next to the kitchen garden, flower borders and a wild garden.

Over the years Elite Hotels, which owns Tylney Hall, has carried out a painstaking restoration programme to reinstate the gardens to their former glory. Visitors will be able to see the results of the work when they tour the magnificent estate on the open day from 10am to 5pm.

A range of refreshments will be available throughout the day when the grounds are open. Entrance to the gardens at Tylney Hall costs £3 and all the proceeds will go to NGS charities. There will be two more NGS open days at Tylney Hall on June 1st and July 6th.