Blooming beside the seaside

Sewerby Hall is a name from my childhood. It was the place we'd always visit while on our annual week's holiday in nearby Bridlington. It offered plenty of open space in which to play while my parents relaxed and enjoyed the gardens.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Aug 2010, 16:34 BST
Updated 27th Aug 2010, 16:34 BST

That was back in the 1950s.

Today, Sewerby and its Hall, and its gardens, are still perched on the clifftop, with a panorama over the bay.

And parents still relax in the glorious gardens while their young ones make the most of the lawns and open spaces.

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There's nothing high-tech; it's simply a place to be enjoyed – simply, perhaps with a picnic. (The hall and gardens won Warburton's Bread 'National Best Picnic Site' award in 2008 and 2009).

Yes, there's a small zoo, a putting green, an eatery and even a land train which, for a few pence, will take you to the brighter lights of Brid. But, to me, Sewerby and its hall will always be about the gardens.

When I was a child, the thing that stuck in my mind was the size of the monkey puzzle trees (they are now planting new ones) and not getting dirty. The gardens were just a playground for youngsters. I wasn't bothered about the brilliant beds of flowers.

Today, I can appreciate them. I can also appreciate the fragrant Rose Garden and the famous Old English Garden where the seasonal changes of flowers against the time-weathered brickwork belie the fact that this is the 21st century.

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And the Walled Garden, with its vibrant flowers and shrubs, framed by close-cropped box hedgerows, takes me back to the days when every local council had a parks department which created an annual theatre of colour and controlled growth.

In mid-summer, the outer borders of the Walled Garden brim with tall herbaceous perennials, while bedding plants pack the inner beds.

It's a warm, enveloping place to laze away an August afternoon, listening to the drone of bees and drifting in an atmosphere of scent and contentment. It also won the Yorkshire In Bloom gold award in 2008 and 2009. It's like taking a step back into my childhood, into a time when everything seemed ordered and pleasant.

The weather was always perfect; there was always an ice cream and I was allowed to go on the beach, beneath the cliffs, and hunt for life in the pools of water left by the retreating tide. Happy days.

n www.sewerby-hall.co.uk or phone 01262 673769.

YP MAG 28/8/10

Related topics:Sewerby HallBridlingtonWalled Garden