Berkeley Castle DL

SpetchleyPark Gardens

...a place to unwindAlso available for Corporate Hire,

Weddings & Photo shoots

Garden Guide

Spetchley Park was brought byRowland Berkeley in 1606. Theoriginal house was Tudor and oncestood 100 yards closer to the lakethan the current mansion you seetoday.

On the eve of the Battle of Worcester in 1651 the house was usedby the Royalist Presbyterian Army who burnt it to the ground.

Some say because they had enjoyed themselves a bit too much onthe eve of the battle whilst another story indicates it was deliberateto avoid it falling into Cromwell’s hands.

The current house was built on the site of theold stables. It was designed in the Palladianstyle by the eminent architect John Tasker andcompleted in 1811. The great cedars in thegarden were brought from Lebanon as seed byJohn Evelyn, the diarist and friend of thefamily.

Edward Elgar stayed at Spetchleymany times and went to school at StAnne’s school, just opposite thefront entrance to the gardens. Hewould take the Gardeners cottage,still occupied today by the currentHead Gardener, and it was thegardens that inspired him to pen part of his great composition, TheDream of Gerontius. He would also fish on the lake and the currentowner, John Berkeley, remembers being bounced on Elgar’s knee asa small child!

The gardens were dramatically improved inthe Victorian times by Rose Berkeley and hersister Ellen Willmott, considered by many tobe the finest lady horticulturalist of hergeneration and in 1924 the gardens becameone of the first in the Country to open to thepublic under the National Garden Scheme.Now they extend to 30 acres, with a collectionof many rare plants.

During World War II the house was earmarked to be theHeadquarters for the War Cabinet but instead it became arecuperation centre for convalescing American pilots and thegarden continues to inspire visitors to this day.

Designed and printed by Ambassador whooperate an Environmental ManagementSystem that meets the requirements ofISO 14001. Tel 0117 965 5252

www.spetchleygardens.co.uk

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SCHOOL HOUSE

FARM

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HORSEPOOL

TOILETS

CHURCHOF

ALL SAINTS

GARDEN COTTAGE

AVIARY

MELONYARD

GARDENPOOL

COPSE

ROSE LAWN

CORK LAWN

NEW LAWN

HEATHERBED

NORTH BORDER

KITCHEN

GARDEN

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SOUTH BORDER

FOUNTAIN

GARDENS

CONSERVATORY

FRONTLAWN

BRIDGE

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ENTRANCE

From WorcesterSpetchley

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Spetchley Park

To Alcester

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CARPARK

1 - Tea Rooms2 - Apollo Statue3 - Alcove, Adam & Eve4 - Serbian Spruce

5 - Cedar Tree6 - Lucombe Oak7 - Root House8 - Swamp Cypress

KEYBased upon the OrdnanceSurvey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.M.Stationery Office. Crowncopyright reserved.

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