Page 13 - Oundle Life May 2025

IDYLLIC
WALKS
Elton Hall Gardens
The gardens of Elton Hall were only fully
developed and maintained in the early
20th century. The areas close to the house
were redesigned just before the outbreak of
war in 1914; the Repton-inspired parkland
and the gardens were at their
most splendid. Glasshouses, fruit,
vegetables, herbaceous borders, a
topiary maze, a rose garden and the
woodlands underplanted with a mass
of snowdrops, bluebells and clumps
of box, transformed the 22 acres of
garden and 200 acres of parkland into
a small paradise. These idyllic walks
and gardens were to suffer greatly
during the Wars and a garden that had
been designed for thirteen gardeners had to be
reduced to one that could be looked after by
three.
Sir William and Lady Proby took over the
house in 1980 and found the Walled Kitchen
Having never
gardened
in her life,
Lady Proby
took on the
restoration of
the garden
Garden was a mass of thistles, nettles and
brambles which smothered the remains of
glasshouses. Limited by time and resources, this
eventually became the site now occupied by
Bosworth’s Garden Centre. The Edwardian rose
garden was in a similar state and the
ravages of Dutch Elm Disease meant
that 150 trees had been lost in the
park and gardens. Sadly, the topiary
maze and some yew hedging had been
cut down to save on equipment and
manpower.
Having never gardened in her life,
Lady Proby took on the restoration of
the garden, starting with the massive
job of clearing up the dead elm trees
and reducing the size of the garden by returning
some areas to parkland. Inspired by David
Hicks’s underlying theme of the importance of
structure, lengths of string were laid out around
the gardens and, keeping the shape of the paths
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© Elton Estates Co. Ltd