We grabbed a couple of weekends away in August and were pretty lucky with the weather, considering how dreary the month had been. Heading back from north Cumbria we stopped at Levens Hall, last visited about 30 years ago.

Levens has the oldest topiary garden in the world, with ancient yews cut into weird and wonderful shapes that surround the Elizabethan house. The gardens were designed for the owners in 1694 by Monsieur Guillaume Beaumont, who had been gardener to King James II and had worked at Hampton Court Palace gardens. Of his gardens and designs, only Levens survives today.

The bench view out from under one of the giant yews

Besides the wonderful topiary, there is plenty to see in this garden with a beech hedge walk, orchard, herbaceous borders and a fountain garden established in 1994. The use of seasonal bedding plants throughout the garden was very effective with scented heliotrope (known as ‘Cherry Pie’), verbena and tall snapdragons playing a part. I also enjoyed the use of the tender Lavender x christiana with its silver foliage and tall wispy flower stems mixed with the flat fluffy heads of annual ageratum.

Edging of Lonicera nitida

Sadly, Levens has not escaped the ravages of the dreaded box blight. I remembered seeing the garden featured on ‘Gardener’s World’ a couple of years ago where the head gardener talked about removing the box edging and replacing it with various substitute plants that they were going to trial. Ilex crenata (Japanese holly) seemed to be the main edger that I spotted, but it wasn’t happy in some situations – for example, where a canopy of yew topiary created a dry spot. The other plant I noticed was a small leaved Lonicera nitida (box leaved honeysuckle). This was sprouting quite freely, so not the clipped box look at all. But then again, the gardeners were about to embark on the main clipping of all the topiary to get it sharp and crisp for the winter. Imagine! Three months of hedge clipping!

Lavender x christiana and Levens Hall