Designed in the 1700s to entertain, these playful, landscaped gardens continue to delight the senses throughout the seasons. Kyre Park is a new venue for us for 2022 and we are excited to show you the many native and ornamental edibles it has to offer
Kyre Park, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire
Surrounded by the rolling Malvern Hills, close to the Herefordshire and Shropshire borders, is this enchanting, privately-owned park. Landscaped by the great Capability Brown in 1754, it features playful oases of follies, grottos, pools, bridges and waterfalls, which make for one of the finest gardens in Worcestershire. The park was designed with entertaining in mind and there is a feast for the senses here throughout the seasons.
Prior to its mid-18th century landscaping at the instruction of the Pytt family, Kyre was a medieval deer park, first licensed in 1275. Over the centuries it has been a family seat, a World War II military convalescent hospital, a sanatorium for children with chest ailments, a care home and a family home. By the 1990s it had fallen into a semi-ruinous state but was brought back to life, including the reinstitution of some of its most curious features: the garden tunnel, hermit’s cave and look-out tower, by the Gwyn-Joneses. Many echoes of Kyre's rich history remain, such as the grade II-listed Jacobean barn — now run as an antiques barn and bistro — and the Norman dovecote.
Kyre Park has no shortage of edible plants and fungi to learn about, with a wonderful mixture of native species and ornamental introductions. There's a good selection of members of the carrot family and because of the park's many water features, meadowsweet, water cress and fools water cress can usually be spotted. The ornamental plating of these grounds includes several edible tree species, along with poisonous examples like the yew, and the park also has one particularly spectacular feature — a "rainbow tree" that displays a spectrum of glorious colours in the autumn.
The venue is located 30 minutes from the historic market town of Ludlow, which hosts a range of shops and restaurants, as well as a thriving art scene, within its medieval walls; all overlooked by imposing castle ruins.
See the dates for courses at Kyre Park here
Always make sure you are 100% sure of your identification before consuming any plant or mushroom
Comments