Belvoir Castle

About the garden

Violet, the 8th Duchess of Rutland, commissioned the renowned Edwardian garden designer Harold Peto (1854–1933) to create the gardens we know and love today. However, after the Second World War, the gardens were completely neglected for over 30 years and were rediscovered only in 1970 by Frances, the Dowager Duchess of Rutland.

In 2013, an extensive two-year restoration programme began at Belvoir with the clearance of over 500 acres of woodland. At the same time, a set of landscaping plans drawn up in 1780 by ‘Capability’ Brown were discovered, thought to have been lost in the fire of 1816. In the early 18th century, the gardens at Belvoir were regarded as some of the greatest north of London, and 250 years later, the current Duchess of Rutland is determined to restore them to their former glory.

Highlights include the Japanese Woodland, where many of the magnolias, rhododendrons and camellias were sourced from the original seed collection of Charles Williams from Caerhays Castle in Cornwall and Burncoose Nurseries, and the Duchess Garden, a fine example of a picturesque Regency garden.