Play Art Hide-and-Seek in the South Lakes This Summer

Make a beeline for the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year*, Levens Hall and Gardens, and you can enjoy a summer game of ‘art hide-and-seek’.

There are 11 works of art, all helpfully positioned on giant easels, to find within the extensive gardens and not just in the world’s oldest topiary garden.  These are all the creations of charity artist, Bob Sutcliffe, and designed to help raise money for creative therapies in hospices.

The works of art draw inspiration from trees and help communicate the artist’s own story, with Bob having used nature and art to help his own health issues with his heart and late onset epilepsy. Some feature trees at Levens Hall and Gardens.

Whilst some hidden artworks might add to the surprises to be found within a topiary garden that has an Alice in Wonderland quality to it, thanks to over 100 pieces of quirkily and dramatically shaped box and yew trees, they could equally be found anywhere else.

This could be in the Fountain Garden, where sunlight reflects off the water lilies, or perhaps in the orchard, or beside the ancient Bowling Green, where croquet players might nowadays be found.  It could equally be around the dramatic double herbaceous borders, some planted with pastels and others with fiery and dramatic red, blue and purple plants.

It might be close to the earliest example of an English ha-ha, or in the vegetable or herb gardens.  The scent of David Austin traditional roses might be wafting where you spot an easel, or maybe the sound of children squealing with delight in the children’s playground is evident.

There is Shakespeare on the Cedar Lawn at the gardens on July 25, regular yoga and kundalini yoga sessions to join, if you wish to relax in a natural environment, and Flutes & Co in the Garden on August 18.  A Rover Car Rally event will be staged on September 8.

Should the raindrops appear, you can head inside the Hall and explore one of the best examples of an Elizabethan property in the north.  With strong links and items on show that belonged to the Duke of Wellington and his adversary Napoleon, stunning leather wallpaper, gorgeous clocks, furniture and paintings, perhaps the earliest English patchwork to be found today and magnificent carved fireplaces and features, this is also not-to-be-missed.

Levens Hall and Gardens is open from Sunday to Friday every week to October 4 (closed Saturdays) and located close to Kendal, in the southern Lake District.   Admission costs £11.50 for an adult, £4.50 for a child and £29 for a family of two adults and two children.  Adding admission to the Hall as well, makes these prices £15.50, £5.50 and £39 respectively.

Head to www.levenshall.co.uk to book tickets.  The gardens are open from 10am to 5pm each day.  Special tours of the Hall can be booked at 10am and general admission to the Hall is between 11am and 3.30pm (late entry 3pm).

* Cumbria Tourism Awards 2024

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Editors notes

Levens Hall & Gardens is a historic house in the South Lakes, Cumbria, close to Kendal and home to the world's oldest topiary gardens, dating from 1694, created by French garden designer, Guillaume Beaumont. The Hall is a stunning Elizabethan house built around a 13th century pele tower and has close links to the Duke of Wellington, as well as various items which once belonged to him and Napoleon Bonaparte. Levens Park is home to the rare Bagot goats gifted to the Bagot family and a place in which to stroll and enjoy nature. Levens Kitchen is the contemporary new cafe, full of delights for cake lovers and foodies alike.