The Grounds

The Gardens

The gardens are sheltered by woodland from the north and east and overlook the Waveney Valley.   The original eighteenth-century grounds and walled garden were remodelled in the 1880s, including changing the driveways and laying out a pleasure ground round the clay pond on the east side which included a number of evergreen trees such as wellingtonia, laurel and deodars.  A winter garden was built onto the west side of the house, and the walled garden extended to the south with a new serpentine wall and double borders.  The winter garden was pulled down in the 1930s and the area replaced with a rose garden enclosed by yew hedges.

After a period of neglect from the 1960s-1980s the garden has since 1990 been remodelled and extensively replanted. It is divided into contrasting sections, with a haha replacing the nineteenth-century rabbit fencing on the south side, and dividing the walled garden into sections for vegetable-growing, fruit trees and a sheltered area for sitting out.  The overgrown pleasure ground and pond are slowly being tamed, and the southern part of the garden has been enclosed by a lime avenue, beyond which on the west a  challenging yew maze has been established.

The park

The original park was reduced on its southern side by the route of the  Yarmouth toll road in the early nineteenth century and this part consists of ancient turf, through which in winter the contours of ancient strip farming are just visible.  Although some ancient oaks remain the park was mainly of elm, lost now to elm disease.  The north park is framed by nineteenth-century woodland and was ploughed up during the war.  It was returned to grass in the 1990s.

The farm

The farmhouse, separated from the park by a shelter belt, has an eighteenth century front concealing a dairy built of clay lump.  It is at the centre of the arable area of the farm, and some of the original buildings for carthorses and cattle are seeing new life as livery stables.