Wizard Challenge Lets Families Make the Most of VAT Cut

Levens Hall and Gardens – a glorious Elizabethan house and gardens in the Southern Lake District, Cumbria – is creating additional fun this summer holidays, to help families benefit from the current VAT cut on admission and enjoy an added bonus of wizarding wonderment.

The magical gardens have a true Alice in Wonderland-like quality within one part of the property – the world’s oldest topiary garden.  Here, children’s imaginations can run wild, as they study weird, wonderful, easier-to-work-out, and geometric dimensions of over 100 topiary trees of all shapes and sizes.

These include the two towering topiary Umbrella trees, the children’s favourite of the Toppling Wedding Cake and even Darth Vader and Homer Simpson.

But the rest of the gardens, within which there is also a small children’s playground, should be equally inspiring for children, if a little pre-visit homework is done. To assist this, Levens Hall and Gardens has created its own wizarding role-play challenge. The aim is to engage children in both plant and flower identification, plus creative spell-casting that can fire up the imagination.

Families are asked to find a dozen specified plants around the 10-acre gardens, whose scientific names sound very much like those that any self-respecting wizard would utter.  Parents, grandparents and guardians are invited to swot up on the plant visuals before they arrive and then help kids spot these 12 plants as they move respectfully around the gardens.

On discovering them, children can utter the plant’s scientific name in flamboyant fashion, channelling their inner wizard. Children can use their imagination to decide what each declaration of a scientific plant name will mean as a spell – something bound to result in giggles and family fun.

The 12 plants to be found in this wizarding garden game are:

1.     Taxus bacata

2.     Morus alba

3.     Tropaeolum speciosum

4.     Liriodendron tulipifera

5.     Magnolia grandiflora

6.     Cynara cardunculus

7.     Canna indica

8.     Cleome hassleriana

9.     Cucurbita pepo

10.  Nepeta faassenii.

11.  Phaseolus coccineus

12.  Foeniculum vulgare

Thanks to the VAT cut for heritage attraction admission before September 1, admission costs have tumbled.  A gardens-only family ticket for two adults and up to three children (aged 5-16) is now just £28.27.  Adult garden entry costs £11.36 before this date, children’s tickets are priced at £4.15 and under 5s enter for free.  These garden-only tickets, at these new prices, must be bought on arrival.

This makes it the ideal summer to discover the joys of the Levens Hall gardens, from the huge Beech Circle with its five-metre-high hedges, to the lovely relaxing Fountain Garden, boasting tranquillity and a lily-bearing pond.  Add to this: glorious herbaceous borders; rose garden; historic Bowling Green; herb garden; delightful orchard; England’s oldest ha-ha and, of course, the Guinness World Record-holding Topiary Garden and there is so much to see.

Families can also treat the kids to the delights of the Elizabethan Hall, with items owned by both the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon, plus lots more besides.  House and garden admission is reduced to £37.36 for a family of two adults and up to three children, £15.12 for an adult ticket and £5.03 for a child’s admission, with these prices applicable before September 1 and when tickets are bought on arrival.  Under-5s again enter for free.

More information can be found at www.levenshall.co.uk by any adults planning days out for budding young wizards this summer holidays.

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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.