Sunday, May 16 – St. Nicholas Hospital and Gardens

Today we visited the nearby gardens at St. Nicholas, originally built not long after Easby Abbey (look for a post on that next, as we are visiting tomorrow). The gardens were originally designed by famed gardener Bobby James. They became overgrown after his death in 1960 and have only recently begun to be revitalized. The current owners moved in after Lady Serena James’s death in 2001. They are a bit of a celebrity pair in Britain, he being a former racecar driver and Olympic athlete, and she being an actress. You can read about them here.

Keith, Rebecca, Sarah, Keith Schellenberg, and me

The gardens are not open to the public very often, so this was quite special. They also had volunteers (young relatives and employees of the owners) serving tea on the back terrace. The view from the back of the house is lovely (see photo below).

Me with the largest hedge (they cut all of the rest back to the ground every few years. These hedges are over one hundred years old, planted by the famed gardener Bobby James.

Owner's dog, stopping for a little rest

Old Orchard and Wild Garden

Sarah, me, and Rebecca on rear lawn

Highland Cattle in pasture behind St. Nicholas

The lady of the house was kind enough to let us see a few of the rooms, and pulled out some additional leaflets on the history of the home, gardens, and surrounding area.

Here we are in her dining room, notice the George Cuit painting of the house on the wall to the far left, it is a bit dark from this angle, so I will upload the postcard of it that she gave to us. The man standing to the left is the current head gardener, Mark Morrell (sp?), and the woman to the right is Keith's wife (still can't figure out her name).