Midsummer Picnic at Skipwith Hall

We have been kindly invited by long standing YGT member Ros Forbes Adam to hold our summer picnic at her family residence, Skipwith Hall. After arrival coffee and cake, we will be introduced to the garden by Ros, and have ample opportunity to wander in the garden and grounds before our lunch - please bring your own picnic, and strawberries and cream will be provided by YGT. Fundraising from this Event will be for the YGT Bursary scheme; we hope to hold a small raffle.

Skipwith Hall started life as a Jacobean farmhouse. It took shape as a Queen Anne manor house for the Parish of Skipwith around 1700, and the mulberry tree in front is likely to have been planted when the upper storey was added during the time of prosperity in the 1770s following the Agricultural Revolution when the hall was the centre of a working estate.

The family of the current owners bought Skipwith in 1898 and moved there in 1929 when Irene Forbes Adam set about a major refashioning of the house and garden. With the help of garden designer Cecil Pinsent, she fashioned a garden around the ancient mulberry in front of the house, made the sunken Italian Garden with dry stone walls, and Richard’s Garden was created against the old hot walls in memory of a grandson.

Her grandson Charlie and daughter-in-law Rosalind came to live there in 2002 and invited Miranda Holland-Cooper to re-design the kitchen garden and many of the borders. The Italian Garden has been restored and Rosalind’s growing interest in gardening for wildlife is reflected in the ongoing management of the garden as a wood meadow. Their landscape architect son Hal Forbes Adam has helped create a new gravel meadow to compliment Cecil Pinsent’s terrace garden in front of the old ‘hot walls’.

We hope the nearby historic church, St Helen’s will be open to visit on the day.

Tickets cost: YGT members £20.00, non-members £22.00

Organiser: Maddy Hughes

Tickets for all events will be available electronically, using Eventbrite as last year. Each event has its own link to the Eventbrite page which will allow you to book a ticket.  The Eventbrite page will give you the name, date and time, location, refund policy and description which includes information about directions and parking. We are sorry but you can only book tickets for one event at a time.

If you want to buy tickets for multiple events on-line, please use the booking form and send this to events@yorkshiregardenstrust.org.uk. Please pay for your tickets on-line by bank transfer to Yorkshire Gardens Trust, Reference ‘Surname’ Events, Sort Code 05-09-94, Account No 25555237, or you can send a cheque to Lynn Watkinson, 5 Belle Vue Terrace, Bellerby, Leyburn DL8 5QL. Tickets will be sent to you by email.

If you are unable to buy tickets on-line, please can you either ask a friend or relative who has access to the internet to buy the tickets for you either using Eventbrite or using the booking form as above. Payment can be made by bank transfer to Yorkshire Gardens Trust, Reference Events, Sort Code 05-09-94 Account No 25555237, or you can send a cheque to Lynn Watkinson, 5 Belle Vue Terrace, Bellerby, Leyburn DL8 5QL. Tickets will be sent to you by email.

Otherwise please post the booking form with your selection of events, a self-addressed envelope and a cheque made out to Yorkshire Gardens Trust to Lynn Watkinson, 5 Belle Vue Terrace, Bellerby, Leyburn DL8 5QL.