This area was fenced off from the park in 1972 in order to contain a number of trees presented by friends to mark Lord and Lady Cholmondeley’s silver wedding.
It was already planted with a mixture of Oak and Beech, with Scots Pine and Western Hemlock added to act as a wind break for the Temple Garden. There are a number of remarkable trees here including some quite rare specimens with a row of Sorbus ‘John Mitchell’ lining the road.
One of the most intriguing specimens in this area is our fantastic Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus antarctica), which has the look of Middle Earth about it. Next to this you will see the dark leaves and purplish cones that mark Abies forrestii var.georgei. This is equally unusual in collections and it is believed that this particular specimen was brought back as a seedling from Lebanon by the plantsman Jim Russell.
Other specimens of note here include; Liquidambar ‘Lane Roberts’ which turns a fabulous purple then red in autumn; Sorbus sargentiana with an abundance of red berries in autumn and the bright yellow spring foliage of Gleditsia ‘Sunburst’ on the roads edge. The bright emerging foliage of the Gleditsia is offset well by the purple of Acer platanoides ‘Goldsworth Purple’.
Elsewhere across the garden Cholmondeley is home to many fine and rare trees which are always one of the things visitors love best about the garden. In fact we hold over 30 County Champions!, including the biggest Giant Redwood in the region.
