Cragside

In the heart of Northumberland, Cragside offers a beautiful display for of rhododendrons for visitors to enjoy.

Transcript

00:30So I'm head gardener at Cragside, so in Northumberland, and the rhododendrons are looking fabulous.

00:56This is all part of the big designer, grand designer landscape which was all artificially

01:01created and it was all created to look like a North American or a Himalayan landscape.

01:07So created in the late 19th century by William and Margaret Armstrong who designed this landscape

01:15and the kind of the plants that they were planted, the big plant which is flowering

01:20at the moment, rhododendrons.

01:22So if you come at the moment, and for the next couple of weeks, rhododendrons are looking

01:26just incredible.

01:28And so these rhododendrons, or rose trees as they were, they were North American and

01:32Himalayan plants, they were greatly bred at the end of the 19th century to create all

01:37these wonderful different colours, they were greatly collected and brought in, and many

01:43hundreds of thousands are planted across the estate, so some areas are quite gardened,

01:48so we've got very much a gardenified landscape, in the other areas they're slightly more wild

01:53but controlled, but it creates this mass effect, certainly looking out and seeing them all.

02:01We love the flowers, we live locally and we come here all times of the year to be indoors,

02:06outdoors, in the house, but we really love the rhododendrons and the azaleas at this

02:11time of year.

02:12They're not taking any off the bushes because I've been very strict about that, they're

02:15collecting fallen flowers and petals, and trying to get all the different colours and

02:20all the different sizes, and trying to persuade me to carry them home as well.

02:24And you're happy to see this crocodile as well, all the flowers at this time of year,

02:29it's very spring.

02:30Yes it is, and it's lovely just to be able to get outside and see a splash of colour

02:35at this year when we're all feeling it's been a bit too grey for a bit too long, and

02:39who comes to visit us in this part of the world, we recommend that they come here or

02:42come here with them.