17th-century style gardens

We have laid out the beautiful garden in a style fashionable in the early 17th century. It contains a wide range of carefully researched and fully labelled trees and plants.

The labels share interesting and entertaining information, perfect for garden enthusiasts, home schooling and learning at every age.

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Carefully researched

None of the original gardens have survived years of farming, hence, the gardens you see were first laid out in the 1990s. Then after careful research into 17th-century-style gardens they were updated in 2015. Almost all the plants we now grow also existed in the local area at the time. The only exception is the orchard, which includes some more modern plants.

Our dedicated garden volunteers studied what a rich country-gentry family would have grown in this fashionable garden, allowing us to show you how it might have looked at the time. All areas of the garden would have held a purpose for the household. Even the decorative areas were important because they showed the status of the family.

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Well stocked and labelled

The garden itself comprises a series of room-like plots, divided up by clipped yew hedges.

The garden rooms include working plant beds, herb and vegetable gardens, a heritage orchard, an ornamental maze, and ‘wilderness’ areas. Each garden room is well-stocked, and our volunteers have labelled every plant and tree explaining their uses.

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Our volunteers

The Friends of the 1620s House & Garden fund our team of enthusiastic volunteers maintain and develop the gardens. 

Recent projects include, for example, creating the pond, to bring more wildlife into the garden. Additionally, the volunteers also develop entertaining and informative children’s trails.

Visitors can find information about the garden in Garden Guides which we keep in the Old Barn Tearoom.

Authentically restored property with great tour guides

My wife and I spent a glorious week exploring Leicestershire and one of the highlights was our visit to this property.
The house has been authentically restored and the tour was made extremely interesting by our guide, Carol, who interacted so well with the visitors and offered many anecdotes.
I would highly recommend a visit to this wonderful property.

A lovely, welcoming historic house and garden

A group of about 10 of us turned up for a visit and the lady in the ticket kiosk kindly arranged impromptu tours of the gardens and house for us. Both the guides were brilliant, informative, and friendly, pointing out details that we would otherwise have missed. The whole place is very welcoming and beautifully restored and maintained. It is lovely that you can handle most of the items on display and the detailed information about the plants in the garden was impressive. […] It is also remarkably good value for money as we can use our tickets to return within the next 12 months. The café was nice too, with a good selection of homemade cakes. A great place to spend a few hours.