NEWS RELEASE
24 September 2024
Autumn glory at Hole Park
Free children's activities and a chance to learn its fascinating past
Hole Park may be best known for wonderful Spring flowers, notably its famous Bluebells, but the colourful Autumn display in this tranquil Wealden gem is a wonder to be enjoyed throughout the coming months.
A riot of rich reds, golds and yellows
Once the bright colours of Summer have faded, the gardens and woods explode into a riot of rich reds, yellows and golds and Hole Park's Autumn glory emerges. In fact, the trees and shrubs planted over the past 100 years were chosen with just this range of colour and contrast in mind.
The gardens are open on Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout September and October from 11am to 6pm. In October, Hole Park is additionally open on Sundays for visitors to enjoy the unfolding of the golden season, before the gardens close for the year onThursday 30th October until Spring 2025.
Free Children's Activities
The Hole Park team has created a number of free Autumnal activities for children as they explore the gardens and woods. Alongside a ‘wonderful wildlife walk' trail there is a leaf hunt, helping children to identify leaves from the different trees, and a Pumpkin letter trail to make up an Autumnal word. Completed trails can be handed in to earn a reward sticker.
Autumn treats
Exploring finished, hungry visitors can head to the Coach House Tea Room for some delicious homemade soup and a Cranbrook Bakery roll or hot sausage roll. The Coach House will be serving light lunches, teas, cakes plus other refreshments on all open days. Free colouring sheets can also be picked up in the Coach House to keep little ones occupied at the table.
Dog-friendly
An Autumn walk is one of the best ways to enjoy the `Golden Season', especially if you have a canine companion. Dogs are welcome throughout the gardens and in the seating area outside the Coach House Tea Room, but not inside.
Guided History Tour
On Friday 11th October, there is a rare opportunity to discover the fascinating history behind Hole Park and its gardens from the current custodian Edward Barham.
The Barham family has owned Hole Park since 1911 and, as well as telling this 113-year ownership history, Edward Barham will reveal its intriguing past. This fascinating tale will be told with the help of the many artefacts of historic significance that the family has collected, including some newly acquired original portraits of the estate's previous occupants and their families.
The talk and tour begins at 10.30am and lasts for approximately two hours. Tickets are priced at £21 with a concession for current Season Ticket holders. This includes coffee/tea beforehand in the Coach House and exclusive access to the gardens afterwards when they are closed to the general public.
-ends-
For further information please contact: Alison Miles, Press Office, Hole Park Estate, Benenden Road, Rolvenden, Kent TN17 4JA
M: 07900 691116
Notes to Editors:
Photos: Use links below the images to download original photos.
Nestled in 200 acres of classic English parkland,Hole Park is a hidden gem of the High Weald National Landscape. It has been owned by the Barham family for the past four generations, having been purchased as a family home by Edward Barham's Great Grandfather, Colonel Arthur Barham, in 1911.
In the mid-1920s the Colonel made the bold decision to share the beauty of his recently-created gardens by opening them to the public: a tradition that is maintained to the present day. Over the decades, each succeeding generation has improved and innovated the layout and planting in the gardens.
The current custodians, Edward and Clare Barham, moved into Hole Park with their three children and dogs in 2003. Since then, they have undertaken a comprehensive re-planting program of the garden which reflects and enhances the Colonel's original plans from the 1920s.
Edward and Clare both take an active role in managing the gardens. This includes public opening days, so they are often found selling tickets in front of the house, serving in the Tea Room or walking their dogs around the gardens.
Late Summer and Autumn Highlights
The late flowering agapanthus ‘Hole Park Blue'and colourful exotic border with its cannas and dahlias are an impressive sight in late summer before the reds, yellows and golds of autumn appear, bringing colour and interest to the gardens in October.
Spring Highlights
Visitors to the gardens in early April will see swathes of crocuses, narcissi and daffodils. A pretty ‘Camelia Walk' with shade-loving hellebores takes walkers down a path flanked by flowering cherry trees. Before the bluebells take centre stage, the meadows and woodland floor are a sea of primroses and dainty blue scillas. Magnificent mature magnolia trees will also be flowering throughout the gardens and woodlands.
In May the gardens are full of tulips, roses and clematis and the vineyard garden has several impressive standard wisterias to admire. Rhododendrons and azaleas flower throughout the gardens and delicate wild orchids will start to flower in the meadows alongside the architectural spires and star-shaped flowers of ‘camassia'. The sundial garden provides an interesting view over the Wealden countryside through an oval shaped window in the topiary hedge.
Summer Highlights
Visitors to the gardens in the summer months can see the recently renovated long herbaceous borders. Half the border has been replanted in the original pink and blue planting scheme first used by the late Christopher Lloyd when he first designed the border at Hole Park. The remainder of the border was replanted using the original colour scheme of yellow and white. Visitors can also find a riot of colour in the Centenary Garden (formerly the Rose Garden) planted in 2023 to celebrate 100 years since the original completion of Hole Park's gardens by Col Arthur Barham.