Video: After a century, everything comes up roses in Yorkshire's lost garden

WHEN a Yorkshire stately home was a hub of the late 19th century Arts and Crafts movement its enchanting gardens cast a spell which lingered until the shadow of war fell across the vines, rose beds and lily ponds.

Now head gardener Chris Baker and his team of volunteers believe they have the green fingers to unearth the past at Kiplin Hall, near Scorton in North Yorkshire, and make the run-down grounds bloom again as one of the greatest gardens in the North.

Mr Baker, 36, has devised a two-year plan that will see the once thriving gardens gradually return to life. The gardens at the Jacobean hall were laid out by the mid-19th century, but fell into disuse after the First World War

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Photographs and records from the period show a well-stocked walled garden, ornamental ponds, apple orchard, rose gardens, greenhouses, large conservatory, peach and forcing houses and a very large vinery.

But much of the garden and grounds have been under grass or overgrown for many years. Rotting buildings have become dilapidated or have been demolished.

Assisted by an ever-growing team of enthusiastic and energetic volunteers, Mr Baker has been itching to bring the gardens back to life in keeping with the history of the hall and grounds since taking over in April.

The gardening team has already improved the established, formal gardens, planted new knot gardens to

the east of the hall and

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worked to maintain and further improve the recently restored Peninsula Wood and Victorian lily pond.

Over the next six months, Chris and the Kiplin volunteers will be putting their backs into the task, including replanting the apple orchard, which dates back to at least the 1850s.

They will also be creating new parterres to the west of the house and a new garden seating area planted with ornamental grasses, planting a new bulb walk and continuing with the woodland and pond management.

The Walled Garden will be a jewel in the crown of the new layout. Following surveys, the team hope to reinstate the paths, replant the espalier fruit trees and repair the gardeners' dipping pool.

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Working two days a week in the gardens and grounds at Kiplin Hall, Mr Baker reckons he has the background to succeed. The rest of his time is spent running his successful horticultural company, Baker Squared, with his wife, Kirsty.

The couple started the business seven years ago designing and constructing new gardens and caring for established older gardens.

He said: "I am fascinated by historic gardens, how my predecessors managed these complex grounds, which plants they grew, how they were grown and where they were displayed.

"In rediscovering and developing the lost gardens at Kiplin I feel we are doing very important work; preserving the history of the gardens for generations to come and enhancing the 'natural' beauty of the designed landscape.

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"With the help of the volunteers, the grounds of Kiplin Hall can once again become one of the great English gardens."

The project has thrown up a few surprises. Earlier this year the back of a digger fell through the topsoil into a large hole to reveal a water tank big enough to bury two men which probably once lay under a conservatory.

The tank was the second to be found on the site. They are believed to have been connected and fed by a nearby stream.

Also buried in the soil was a beautiful piece of ironwork, probably from the period of the late 19th century Arts and Crafts movement.