Harewood House
Twenty-first century tensions
7 August 2023
By: James Lennox
There’s no denying the variety of gardens to be visited up here in Yorkshire. A mere 5 crow-flying miles from the small-scale perfection of York Gate brings you to the splendour of one of the grandest houses of England. An intricate plant-filled gem one day, a landscape-altering period piece the next.
Despite their proximity, the two gardens are worlds apart. At Harewood, it’s all about the desire of the original owner, Edwin Lascelles, to signal his arrival on the scene in the mid-eighteenth century with a jaw-dropping display of social-climbing ambition. (As for the source of all that wealth, that’s well beyond the scope of this review.)
Nothing but the best would do - John Carr of York, assisted by a young Robert Adam, was tasked with building the house, while ‘Capability’ Brown no less was given the job of shaping the landscape to set it off. Brown worked on the site from 1758 to 1774, which gives some inkling of the scale of the undertaking.
A mid-nineteenth century remodelling of the house by Sir Charles Barry resulted in the addition of an imposing double staircase from the raised ground floor to the newly created south terrace. This wide expanse of levelled ground projects out from the house ending in a balustraded cliff-edge dropping down to Brown’s grassy slope to the lake.
And the Victorian parterre is probably the best place to start a garden tour. Restored in the 1990s with EU funding (now a rather historic event in itself), the scale of the terrace perfectly matches the proportions of the south elevation of the house. Curling box arabesques infilled with compact lavender, golden variegated sage, stone urns and clipped yew cones allow the eye to travel over the vast flat expanse and out into the Brownian landscape.
And slap bang in the centre of all the swirls, acting as a vertical exclamation mark demanding attention, is an eye-catching statue of Orpheus by Astrid Zydower created in 1984. Impressive chap. Unfortunately, the pool in which he stands and the two either side with Rococo fountains were all dry in the wettest summer for years, leaving the Tritons blowing tunes through conch shells rather than spouting arcs of water.
Beneath the house is a perfectly paced, symmetrical herbaceous border, generously stocked with rhythmical groups of Macleaya cordata, Acanthus spinosus, Salvia ‘Blue Spire’, Salvia involucrata, Sisyrinchium striatum, campanulas, phlox and asters, inter alia.
Towering over all are the signature hollyhocks, a feature of this border since at least the 1920s, if sketches in the house are anything to go by. A relaxed, cottage-y touch in an otherwise grand and formal setting, all of which helps to soften the sheer volume of stonework on display.
As tempting as it might be to spend the whole visit admiring the juxtaposition of parterre and building, one further horticultural highlight lies just below, bridging the transition from the formal terrace to the wider landscape.
The planting in the Archery Border is a bold move this far north. It’s clearly the warmest spot in the entire estate, south-facing, sheltered from prevailing winds by a belt of trees, backed by the high stone retaining wall of the terrace. And full advantage has been taken of the micro-climate: Melianthus major, Fremontodendron californicum, Trachycarpus fortunei, Tetrapanax papyrifer, callistemons, yuccas, Eriobotrya japonica, cordylines, echiums and kniphofias. Faith in the upside of climate change for Yorkshire gardens writ large.
A theatrical start, on the whole well-executed even if the odd tangle of bindweed undercuts the effect. But the further you move from the parterre, the more the pressures of running an estate of this size and complexity come to the fore. Clearly Harewood is a very commercial operation, but there’s a tension between the pressure to make money and the need to preserve those elements that make the place special.
On the whole, the money-making side of things is kept discreetly hidden from view in the shelter belt of trees to the west of the house, with only the occasional waft of fried onions and whoop from the numerous adventure playgrounds to remind you that not everyone is here for the gardens. The combination of school holidays and a large conurbation on its doorstep means that Harewood is never short of visitors.
That’s no bad thing in itself, even if the integrity of Brown’s slope down to the lake, already altered by the Victorian terrace, is further compromised by a large marquee and plastic maze to occupy younger visitors. (On a side note, the decision to allow the grass to run to seed rather than have it grazed by sheep is downright puzzling. Something to do with nurturing wildlife, perhaps?)
Places like Harewood must take every penny you throw at them and still come back for more. Unfortunately, as you move further from the house, it soon becomes clear that the absolute priority is the upkeep of the house and its contents - everything else is a secondary concern and has to make do with whatever financial resources the house can spare. (The house and its contents are, as a result, immaculate.)
The walled garden is no Scampston, that’s for sure. A sorry row of dilapidated greenhouses, incoherent patches of produce, a collection of weeds and a sundial do not make the best impression. Without the possibility of returning to the house via the south tip of the lake (and the view from there that Brown intended), the walled garden makes a sorry dead end, particularly with the lake suffering an extensive bloom of algae propelled into this corner by the wind.
At the other end of the lake, below Brown’s cascade outlet, is the Himalayan Garden. Remnants of good early twentieth century planting are rapidly being overwhelmed by the inevitable results of neglect. A real shame, as with the flowing water, the graceful bridge, tea house and stepping stones, this area could be something special. The addition of a Bhutanese stupa, beautifully constructed, fits perfectly in this setting and suggests that someone somewhere is still interested.
Do not despair; all is not lost. When the feverish activity starts to grate, return to the parterre. Or even better, retreat to the north side of the house. No-one seems to come here, yet it perfectly captures the essence of the place. This is why Harewood matters - a magnificent house, a sloping lawn, a majestic copper beech, with a backdrop of gently rising hills. A simple but stunning composition. A reminder of an earlier age and that sometimes less can be more if only we slow down for long enough to notice.
More information here: https://harewood.org/
