About the garden
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Enjoy 10 acres of rescued 17th-18th century, pre-Capability Brown gardens which give a taste of a baroque country estate in a 21st century city.are formal walks, parterres, espalier fruit, a holly maze and vegetable garden as well as family-friendly wild areas. Although not a botanical garden, the Trust tries to maintain a period-relevant style and species keeping to the period 1680-1760. Among the 600 different trees, plants and shrubs are two apple and pear orchards growing ancient heritage species (apple juice from the orchards is generally on sale in the garden shop).
During the 17th-18th century, the Bridgeman family developed and extended the gardens to the designs of George London and William Winde. The fashion-seeking Sir Henry Bridgeman (1725-1800) can be thanked for the complete nature of the current Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens. Sir Henry commissioned Lancelot Capability Brown to reconfigure the garden of his ‘other house’ at Weston Park from 1766. When Sir Henry inherited the title and moved to Weston Park, Castle Bromwich was left in the ‘old style’.
Later planting left the main structures intact, to be discovered, and still cared for, by volunteers of the Trust. Projects in 2017 included renewing the old gardener’s viewing gazebo, further work on the Lower Wilderness and renewing trees in the orchard. Although set only yards from junction five of the M6, the garden is a quiet green haven from the hectic and industrialised surroundings.
Snowdrops, daffodils and tulips suit the formal gardens well in spring and the box, yew, hornbeam and holly hedges dominate the summer landscape.
Apple Day, seasonal events and other public activities happen throughout the year. Volunteer-led garden tours are free with entrance on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays in the main summer season. The gardens are adjacent to the ancestral Jacobean Hall.
