inspired by the umbrella tree of Levens

This is the largest Yew in a garden which is world famous as the finest and earliest example of topiary in Britain and it contains over 100 topiary shapes and a huge beech hedge.

The gardens were begun in 1694. The Yew itself may predate the gardens and is thought to be about 400 years old. In the 300-odd years that the gardens have existed for, there have only been ten head gardeners. The present head gardener, Chris Crowder, has been there for 26 years and continues to work his magic on the flowers and trees. It takes four men four weeks every August to trim each yew tree into its unique, quirky shape.

I was completely bowled over by this Alice in Wonderland experience. We even came across ghostly white figures playing croquet. I'm pleased to say that the flamingoes had been replaced by real mallets!