RHS Garden Hyde Hall
| RHS Garden Hyde Hall | |
|---|---|
 Clover Hill at Hyde Hall | |
  Location within Essex | |
| Location |
|
| Coordinates | 51°39′58″N 00°34′33″E / 51.66611°N 0.57583°E |
| Area | 360 acres (150 ha) |
| Owner | Royal Horticultural Society |
| Visitors | 441,562 (2025)[1] |
| Status | Open |
RHS Garden Hyde Hall is a public display garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society, located near Chelmsford in the English county of Essex. It is one of five public gardens run by the society, alongside Wisley in Surrey, Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, Rosemoor in Devon, and Bridgewater in Greater Manchester.
History
[edit]The garden at Hyde Hall was created by Dr and Mrs Robinson in 1955.[2] Hyde Hall was formerly a working farm on a hilltop surrounded by arable land. The site was cleared and 60 trees purchased from Wickford market a few miles away. These trees now form the Woodland Garden. A few Eucalyptus trees were planted by the Robinsons.[3] Shelter belts of Lawson and Leyland cypress hedges were planted during the 1960s, and during this decade the farmland to the west of the Hyde Hall hilltop was incorporated into the garden.
In 1976 Helen and Dick Robinson formed the Hyde Hall Garden Trust which would manage the garden on a long-term basis. The trust donated Hyde Hall to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993.[4]
Robert Brett became the curator in 2015, after taking over from Ian Le Gros, who became Head of Site.[5]
Garden features
[edit]Hyde Hall's 360-acre site encompasses a range of garden styles, from the Dry Garden with drought resistant plants, to the Hilltop Garden with roses and herbaceous borders and the Australia and New Zealand Garden with plants sourced from those two countries.[3] Hyde Hall has seen significant investment in recent years with the opening of a new Global Growth Vegetable Garden (in 2017) showing vegetables from around the world, a new Winter Garden (in 2018) hosting an RHS Trial of Cornus, a new Welcome building (in 2017), and Hilltop Complex (in 2018) featuring a new restaurant and activity centre.
There is a reference library, located in the old farmhouse. It provides a substantial collection of books on practical gardening, garden design, botanical art, garden history, wildlife gardening, plant hunting and much more.[6]
References
[edit]- ↑ "ALVA - Association of Leading Visitor Attractions". www.alva.org.uk. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
- ↑ History of Hyde Hall, Royal Horticultural Society, archived from the original on 11 March 2013, retrieved 13 July 2012
- 1 2 Royal Horticulture Society, Australia and New Zealand Garden, accessed on 2 July 2026
- ↑ History, Royal Horticultural Society, archived from the original on 1 February 2012, retrieved 13 July 2012
- ↑ "Robert Brett Named Curator of RHS Garden Hyde Hall". RHS. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
- ↑ "Visit the Reading Room at RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Essex / RHS Gardening". www.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
- Elliott, Brent (2004), The Royal Horticultural Society: A History 1804–2004, Phillimore. ISBN 978-1-86077-272-6
External links
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| Authority control databases: Geographic |
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