Gardens to visit in spring and summer – Haddon Hall

Haddon Hall is located just south of Bakewell - famous for its tarts - and has hardly changed in the past four centuries. Haddon Hall came into the hands of the Vernon family during the fourteenth century and then came into the possession of the Manners Family by 1567, in whose hands it has remained ever since. There’s a lovely romantic story about this, a Vernon was marrying a Manners cousin, and they had their wedding party in the Long Gallery – during which the younger daughter of the Vernon family decided to elope with the second son of the Manners family!

The beautiful gardens at Haddon Hall exist as a result of passion of Her Grace the 9th Duchess of Rutland. When she arrived at the Hall with her husband early in the twentieth century, she found the garden overgrown and uncared for. She ordered a massive clearance of the site and then began to restore it to its original glory. Yew trees and herbaceous borders were planted, and ivy was stripped from balustrades and climbing roses planted in its place. Roses, clematis and delphiniums soften the harshness of the great stone buttresses and ancient walls of the house, and in spring and summer this grey walled Hall with its soft pastel floral decoration is the epitome of the English Country Garden.

It’s not surprising that this location has been featured in film. The interior and exterior of the home (including the Long Gallery) were used in 1986 as Prince Humperdinck's castle in The Princess Bride. Franco Zeffirelli chose Haddon Hall as the location for his 1996 film, Jane Eyre, and it also featured in the 1998 film Elizabeth. Most recently it ‘starred’ in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice with a supporting cast that included Keira Knightley.

Haddon Hall photograph by Astrowoosie, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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