5 National Trust gardens to visit in North East this spring

Here's a guide to five of the North East's most stunning 'wow' moments in March and April.

Cragside’s Victorian carpet bedding – late March

Hyacinths planted in geometric patterns at Cragside's Formal Garden (Image: National Trust)

For a sense that spring is well and truly on its way, savour the scents and colours of the season at Cragside’s dramatic Formal Garden.

Over the last two years, they’ve been working to bring back the high-Victorian look and feel across this three-tiered, south-facing garden. In this stunning setting, admire the straight, uniform lines, geometric patterns, and bold, clashing colours in these memorable flower displays.

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For this spring, the gardeners have planted more than 5,000 hyacinth bulbs in a repeated quatrefoil pattern in the sloping beds next to the Orchard House. It’s more than just a beautiful sight to soak up – last spring, visitors enjoyed the amazing fragrance of the flowers too. Find a nearby bench and enjoy the sweet scent of the hyacinths while watching early-emerging bees buzzing from flower to flower.

For more mixed-flower spring spectacles, try:

• Crook Hall: You’ll find a heady mix of sights and scents at Crook Hall throughout spring, including narcissus daffodils, tulips, snake’s head fritillaries, wallflowers, violets, hellebores, primulas, hyacinths, bluebells and apple blossom in the orchard. Don’t miss the magnolia tree, in the sheltered warmth of the walled garden, putting on an impressive display of flowers.
• Gibside: From daffodils, tulips, and irises to crown imperial fritillaries, Gibside’s array of bulbs flower at slightly different times, so there will be something to see all through the season.

Seaton Delaval Hall’s double-headed daffodils – throughout March

Seaton Delaval Hall's historic double-headed Van Sion daffodils (Image: National Trust)

The historic Van Sion double-headed daffodils at Seaton Delaval Hall are thought to be as old as the hall itself.

Some people believe that the daffodils were gifted by Sarah Hussey Delaval to her lover, John Bowes, 10th Earl of Strathmore, of Gibside. Years later when both properties were looked after by National Trust, Seaton Delaval gifted Gibside more of their daffodils.

During March, you’ll find the daffodils around the grounds but they're particularly beautiful carpeting the North West Woods near the Delaval Playdium and in the arboretum near the Church of Our Lady.

For more daffodil delights, visit:

• Ormesby Hall: From mid-March to mid-April, the daffodils put on a cheery show of colour, delighting visitors as well as providing an early source of nectar for insects, including queen bumble bees as they emerge from hibernation.
• Wallington: From late March, 10,000 daffodils will bloom throughout the Walled Garden including the beautiful, white variety Jenny in the Orchard Square.

Ormesby Hall’s tulips – March and April

Multi-coloured tulips at Ormesby Hall (Image: National Trust/Annapurna Mellor)

With a mix of early, mid and late-season flowering varieties of tulip, Ormesby Hall’s formal gardens will have a changing mosaic of colours, patterns and textures over many weeks to keep visitors returning for more.

The tulips, beautifully presented against the backdrop of the classic Georgian mansion, reach their peak in April.

Cherryburn’s white cherry tree blossom

White blossom at Cherryburn (Image: Rachel Ladd)

Cherryburn is practically bursting with blossom, boasting cherry, pear, plum and apple blossom as well as hawthorn and blackthorn.

However, it’s the large white cherry tree in front of the farmhouse which steals the limelight, wowing visitors throughout spring and making for wonderful photographs.  

For more blossom bonanzas, try:

• Wallington: Discover amelanchier in the walled garden and in the woods, ornamental cherries making a wonderful display of confetti as their blossom falls, all sorts of apple blossom including crabs, ornamental and eating, and hedgerow shrubs including haw and black thorns. 
• Washington Old Hall: Near the hall, look for the cherry blossom tree that was planted in memoriam to the victims of 9/11, acknowledging Washington Old Hall's links with the USA. In the parterre, you’ll find espaliered fruit trees trained against the walls and, through a gate beyond, enter a small orchard comprising a variety of young English heritage apple trees.

Wallington’s white border – April

There’s a new attraction at Wallington this spring – one that will welcome visitors and wildlife all through the summer and into autumn.

The new white border, thought to be the longest in the UK, has been designed with a long flowering season in mind and with plants that will benefit insects and birds. White flowers attract dusk and nighttime insects, and open flowers and tubular flowers are good for pollinators. Some plants will bear fruits later in the year for birds and other wildlife to enjoy.

Narcissus and iris will be the first to flower in spring, and by the summer roses, geranium and echinacea will be in full bloom. Some plants will carry their flowers through into the autumn – late-flowering cyclamen will close the year.

The National Trust’s gardeners started work on the border last September., which is inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 1800s.