Holehird Gardens - Windermere, Cumbria

Tucked away just off the main road from Windermere to Kirkstone Pass Inn you would be forgiven for driving past it. So watch for those signs hidden behind tree branches. It is however not the type of place you would want to take your over active children (or adult) that constantly wants to play football) It's more of a meander through the garden finding plants you may want to have in your own garden. It is also great for ideas. It is definitely a garden where you sit in the quiet having a picnic and watching nature do it's thing.

Holehird gardens is run by the Lakeland Horticultural Society (leased from Holehird trust) and is a place where a set donation is recommend. The people who run the place are volunteers from the society and the money taken at this site goes back into the site. I donated the £8 suggested for two adults.

Holehird gardens is a garden for all seasons and is open from dusk to dark. The plants on sale there are mostly propagated by the volunteers and grown in the greenhouses and beds. I ended up buying my Jethro Tull plant and three Alpine plants already potted up at very reasonable prices.

The hillside gardens span 17 acre. Which include a great variety of planting - specimen trees and shrubs, extensive rock and heather gardens, a walled garden, alpine houses and herbaceous borders. With plenty of benches dotted around to sit and catch your breath as the view over Lake Windermere appears.

We love the gardens and revisit once in awhile.