Cumbria’s Small Visitor Attraction of the Year, Levens Hall and Gardens, hit the TV spotlight again on Monday, February 24. The historic Elizabethan mansion and gardens featured in the Robson Green’s Weekend Escapes programme, in an episode in which presenters Robson Green and Helen Skelton drop in to explore.
Whilst at Levens Hall and Gardens, the duo explored the glorious gardens offering, including the world’s oldest topiary garden, founded in 1694.
They also found time to take in other delights of the extensive gardens, beyond the topiary garden. At one point they relax on a bench in the Fountain Garden, created to celebrate the 300th birthday of the Levens Hall gardens, back in 1994.
The programme should help highlight how the topiary garden might be the main initial draw to the South Lakes-based visitor attraction but how there is so much more to see.
In terms of the gardens, this also includes the earliest example of a ha-ha in England. This was a feature, which became popular at the start of the 18th century, which enabled an uninterrupted view of the landscape, by removing physical barriers between farm animals and gardens and replacing them with a sunken ditch.
The gardens are also home to a vibrant orchard, nuttery, herb garden, glorious herbaceous borders that come into their own in summer, a children’s playground and the Beech Circle. The latter is bordered by the gigantic, 300-year-old Beech Hedge, which creates a touch of the Harry Potter when standing in the circle that it forms.
Levens Hall and Gardens has only recently featured on the TV programme, ‘Monty Don’s British Gardens’, and is enjoying a wave of TV exposure. In late September and early October 2024, it even featured on ITN evening news and 10 regional TV stations, as its annual trimming of the topiary became a major news item.
It is rapidly becoming an ideal place for fashion shoots too, with both Barbour and Malina having staged photography shoots in the gardens in 2024.
Owner Richard Bagot says, “Having exposure in so many places is great for Levens Hall and Gardens but also great news for the South Lakes economy and for Cumbria’s tourism sector in general. Visitors do not just react and visit us, but spend money with other local businesses, whether they are accommodation providers, food suppliers or other retailers. We have put enormous effort behind our marketing and it is all paying off fantastically, generating benefits for the local economy in both the South Lakes and northern Lancashire.”
Robson Green’s Weekend Escapes, featuring Levens Hall and Gardens, aired on Monday February 24, at 6.30pm on BBC2. It is now available to view on BBC iplayer