Clumber Park

Clumber Park is a country park near Worksop in Nottinghamshire. It was the seat of the Dukes of Newcastle and extends over 3,800 acres. We visited on Saturday, it was a little dull and rather cold when we arrived but the sun did put in an appearance and it warmed up considerably whilst we were there.

The main house here was damaged by several fires and eventually demolished in 1938 but the grade 1 listed chapel in gothic revival style still stands, as does the walled kitchen garden, but more of that later.

A view of the parkland towards the lake.

Clumber Lake is huge, serpentine in design, extending more than two miles and covering 87 acres.

As you can imagine, there's lots of water birds here both gliding along the water and by the sides of the lake.

So many swans, some seemed to be young ones as they still had their grey tinged feathers.

We spent a little time watching a greylag goose. I know geese are renowned for being grumpy and aggressive but this chap really seemed to have a problem, he was sticking his neck out, honking, hissing and chasing all the other geese, and swans too. It was quite comical to watch.

Bulrushes by the edge of the lake.

There's pretty seating areas by the waters edge. I bet it's a delight to sit here on a hot summer day.

One of my favourite spring flowers is the humble primrose so I was pleased to see great swathes of them adorning one bank.

I really want to visit again in a couple of months as there's an abundance of rhododendron bushes which are covered in buds. I'm sure it will be a riot of colour come May and June.

We were also just a little too early to see this beautiful magnolia in all its beauty. It was just on the brink of flowering.

Some of the blooms were just beginning to show but most were still in bud.

Clumber Park has some interesting and ancient trees in the lapsed wood pasture but they're also scattered throughout the parkland too.

As with most National Trust properties, there's the chance to sit down and have something to eat or drink, and a shop to peruse.

In the Laundry Yard and Turning Yard you can find a cafe, a gift shop, plant sales, a second hand bookshop and an ice cream parlour as well as an information point and more food and drink outlets.

After a long walk around the grounds both Archie and I were flagging a little, me with my bad back and Archie just because he's rather old now, though he does still manage very well, bless him. We didn't want to call it a day before we'd explored the walled garden though so we decided to head back to the car and drive round to the other car park which is much nearer this area and I'm glad that we did as I've never seen a walled garden like it before. It spans four acres, has two national collections and is so well kept. On the outside of the walls are these espalier fruit trees.

There's produce for sale on the cart. Things which may be available in March are early rhubarb, rhubarb crowns, kale and spring cabbage.

We could see the bees hard at work going in and out of the hives.

Clumber Park is home to a national rhubarb collection, there's over 130 varieties, which are all labelled up. You can see some of the plants behind Archie who doesn't look too impressed, in fact I think you can tell how tired he is in this photo.

There's also a national collection of apple trees at Clumber Park too. Some of them are espaliers grown against the walls and others are trained against wires strung between posts. It's certainly a space saving way to grow fruit trees.

The longest glasshouse in the National Trust can be found at Clumber Park. 

It measures 451 feet.

It was nice to see a display of Amaryllis as mine didn't even flower this year.

Just look at the size of this dried allium head. All those little star shaped flowers in the globe are still perfect even when dry.

Back outside in the walled garden again, I love these cloches. The ground looks ready and waiting for the plants.

More fruit trees, there are around 250 apple trees as well as other fruit trees.

Another of the rhubarb beds. The collection here is the second largest in the world. The gardens supply the cafe and some rhubarb is sold on the produce cart.

Catkins.

No flowers on the roses in the rose garden as yet but I like how they're growing cheek by jowl with other plants. There's bulbs, annuals and herbaceous perennials to create a long lasting display. There's over 40 pre-1920s varieties of roses in this garden.

A lovely way to display some of the hellebores which are growing in the garden. These flowers tip their blooms downwards so you don't get to see the flowers unless you lift them up. Floating them in water in this way gives you a chance to see the blooms in all their glory.

Such a lovely day out, I'm really looking forward to returning. There's so much we didn't see on this visit and such a lot we want to see again, especially in the walled garden which changes week by week. If you're in the area I can thoroughly recommend it.