25 years – celebrating a great garden restoration
Few people, who had the chance to visit Easton Walled Gardens in 2001, would recognise it now. New planting ideas, design ingenuity and plenty of hard work has, over the past 25 years, created one of the country’s most interesting, privately-owned gardens.
This year we celebrate 25 years since work began restoring Easton Walled Gardens. Founded in 1561, the Lincolnshire estate has been owned by 14 generations of the Cholmeley family; during the Edwardian era, the house and gardens were celebrated as among the finest in the country.
A bird’s eye view of Easton Walled Gardens, having been lovingly restored – and given a new lease of life – over the past 25 years.
Sadly, during the Second World War Easton fell into disrepair with the house and grounds serving as military barracks. In 1951 the difficult decision was made to demolish Easton Hall; the surviving gatehouse (which gives an idea of the hall’s appearance) only spared after machinery used in the demolition broke down.
When the restoration of Easton Walled Gardens was started in 2001, the priority was to clear the brambles and saplings to reveal the crumbling built structures – here the bridge over the River Witham is barely visible.
The once-beautiful gardens slowly fell into a state of slumber; over the next 50 years brambles, sycamores and undergrowth drew a veil across the site. While much was lost, walls and other remnants remained hidden and largely forgotten, waiting quietly to be re-awakened. By 1998, the estate was the highest level on the national ‘at-risk’ building register. It’s been estimated there were five years left before much of the surviving structure collapsed.
Fourteen generations of Cholmeley family have lived on this site, but it was Fred and Ursula Cholmeley who had the vision to breathe new life into it from the end of the 1990s.
So in 2001, after plenty of planning and preparation, restoration work began. The aim was to revive the 12-acre garden, create new plantings within the existing framework, and open the site up to the public. The surviving architecture – important Tudor walls of the former Kitchen Garden; an elaborate Victorian stone bridge spanning the River Witham; clocktower, gatehouse, stables and courtyard – were all saved. And after months and months of clearance, the layout of the once-splendid gardens again became visible, including impressive grass terraces that originally stepped down from the house to the river below.
From the outset, growing sweet peas was an essential part of what the garden offered visitors – quick-growing beauty and fabulous scent.
The gardens today are more than a recreation of the Edwardian gardens that once filled this valley. Garden Director Ursula Cholmeley and the team have created an immersive experience to meet the needs of visitors, virtually year-round, delighting at how quickly the plants have developed and matured.
Over the years, nature has been welcomed back and the gardens now team with biodiversity and wildflowers.
People are encouraged to touch and move through the garden rather than admire from afar. Grass, for example, in the once closely-mown terraces is left to grow long; wildflowers are encouraged; and now the site teams with insects. Traditional horticulture is also back. The Pickery, with its flowers for cutting, was one of the first areas, then in 2007 the Vegetable Garden was established. Planting features such as our famous collections of sweet peas that fill summer with colour and scent were also established from the beginning. In 2011, the White Space Garden was added, its abstract design of box hedging, silver foliage and white flowers inspired by the work of architect Charles Jenks and a family interest in the cosmos.
Our evolution never stops; in 2025 an information board was added to honour soldiers stationed here during the Second World War, while in 2026 a new Fountain Garden is planned. It will not only celebrate 25 years of the garden’s restoration, but will also be dedicated to those who served in both World Wars and who spent time here. With the addition of holiday lets, new shops (including one, Griffin of Easton, that is dedicated to artists and journalers), the best local produce and plenty of activities, there is always something to see or do at Easton Walled Gardens. We hope our forebears would enjoy the passion and energy that now emanates from this very special corner of Lincolnshire – and we hope you will be too.
The past 25 years has seen plenty of new ideas and innovation – including the reworking of the old stables and courtyard to shops and a coffee room.