The Alnwick Garden, England, Northumberland 영국 북부 안윅가든

 
During our visit to Northumberland, England, we had been keen to visit Alnwick Castle, (the castle in England where Harry Potter was filmed 😊) and while in the area we discovered a place called The Alnwick Garden, the impressive fountain can be viewed as you walk towards the castle entrance, but only a sneak peek! This was enough to make us curious enough to visit. It is important to know that, although The Alnwick Garden is located next to Alnwick Castle, they are two separate businesses! We didn’t know this (whoops) but luckily a member of staff informed us and directed us to the ticket office where we could buy tickets. An adult ticket to visit the gardens is £18.90 and if you have children, you can take up to 4 children for free with one paying adult.
 

 
Once inside we were given a map and free to explore. Of course, we immediately walked to the top of the fountain that had made us curious! The view from the top was very pretty, but as we got to the top, the fountain burst into life with a fun sequence of jets! Suddenly the jets shot over out of the fountain and it was amusing to see people laughing as they tried to run across without getting wet. As the weather was nice, people were not too concerned if they got wet, in fact if you have children, it would probably be a good idea to bring a towel and spare clothes as they gravitated towards the jets while the adults ran!
 

 
In need of a little shade, we walked down the tunnels beside the fountain (looking at the map we discovered it is called the Cascade not fountain) and were feeling brave enough to try to find our way through the labyrinth! The labyrinth was made by planting over 500 bamboo plants and was designed by one of the world’s leading maze makers, Adrian Fisher. We could see why he is described as one of the world’s leading maze makers as we made a few wrong turns and were lost for a little while and it was not as easy as we had originally thought! Luckily we made it out the other side and we were greeted by such a pretty sent of roses in the rose garden.
 

 
The Rose Garden is so beautiful, and the scent is so nice! I wish I could share the scent with you as it really is incredible! There are around 3000 English shrub roses and climbers in the rose garden and as we passed a gardener working in one of the rose beds, I couldn’t help but wonder about the care and work that goes into maintaining such a beautiful rose garden.
 

 
The Alnwick Garden was created by The Duchess of Northumberland in 2001 and was built to be unconventional and a unique contemporary garden, and this can really be seen when you see the serpent garden. It has eight water sculptures created by sculptor William Pye. Each sculpture is unique, and you can easily think for a moment you are at an art exhibition instead of an English Garden. I found the sculptures fascinating and almost hypnotic at times but found I felt very relaxed in the calmness there.
 

 
Last but not least, we arrived at the Ornamental Garden. This is where we really felt like we were in an English Garden. As you step through the gates that really feel like they have stood for a long time, you are instantly greeted by many different flowers and colours, after the coolness of the water sculptures of the serpent garden, the Ornamental Garden feels like a different place entirely. There is a pool in the centre and seats so you can sit and just take in the beauty that surrounds you there. Looking at the walls that surround the garden, it looks like they have been there for a long time, after a bit of research, I found out on the Alnwick Garden website, that it was originally the kitchen garden for Alnwick castle but became a larch seed orchard when the Garden was taken over. The Fourth Duke of Northumberland turned it into Italiante garden and it stayed that way for many years. During the World Wars it was used as part of the Dig for Victory campaign before falling into disrepair. It really is amazing to think that the beautiful garden we were sitting in has been through such transformations.
 
With all the exploring we did, we did not have time to visit the much talked about Poison Garden, as it is very popular, they run tours throughout the day, but we timed it wrong, so we decided to visit The Poison Garden first on our next visit. There is a large café by the entrance as well as a gelato hut near the Poison Garden, but we did not eat there so I am not able to comment on the food, but it looked busy. The weather was so nice on the day we visited that we saw many families enjoying picnics on the lawn in front of the Cascade, which looked fun, so maybe we will enjoy our own picnic next time!