The Magic of Castle Ashby Gardens
The roads leading the Castle Ashby wind you over rivers, across open fields until soon you see the stately home perched on the hillside hidden behind the trees. You continue through the little village until you find yourself flanked by hedgerows guiding towards the home. Castle Ashby is the home to the son of the 7th Marquess of Northamptonshire.
Crossing the cattle gate, a sweeping panorama of the grand estate dotted with sheep beckons you to stop and take in the view. A long avenue lined with shady oak trees brings you to a car park outside the tall brick garden walls.
A simple tea room greets you at the garden entrance, complete with a patio for picnicking in the sun. Following a winding gravel path, you come to a wooden gate. Approaching the landing, you catch your first glimpse of this enchanting space. Like Cinderella cascading down the grand staircase to join a fancy party, you are transformed in this moment, like you’ve entered another story. You’ve left your old life for another.
The extensive gardens are a combination of several styles including the romantic Italian gardens, and an impressive arboretum. A menagerie filled with rascally meerkats provide entertainment for restless children and a butterfly house, where in the summer months, bursts with vibrant hues of pink, red, and purple fuchsia.
The crown jewel of the garden is the ornate Italian Orangery. Built in 1872, the Orangery is the center piece of this enchanting landscape. One step inside, warm air envelops you and your gaze lifts with the towering trees and decorative architecture. Your senses aroused with the sound of the pond and the scent of damp earth. At the heart, the orangery houses a large central pond, stocked with fish and water lilies. It is best experienced when no one else is around. You can linger and dream to your heart’s content.
The Orangery at Castle Ashby
Every April, I return to photograph Fefe with the blooming camellias. Here are a images taken over the years in front of our favorite camellia bush.
Soon the Orangery will open again and I can only hope to catch the last few blooms before they are gone until next year. Below is a gallery of images from the last three years.
This is short clip of an afternoon with Fefe at the gardens last March 2020. Little did we know that less that 48 hours later we would be entering our first national lockdown. When I watch this video now, I remember how that day felt. Ominous, forbidding. We sensed that the UK would make this dramatic decision but no one really knew. The garden was empty. At one point, I was as if we were the only ones there. I continue to return to this clip as it captures the a world before the pandemic and our lives forever changed.
Castle Ashby Gardens
You could spend endless hours wandering the enchanting grounds and garden of Castle Ashby. With each turn, a new scene to step into. No matter the season, there is always a reason to return.
