There are many old buildings and houses said to be haunted across the UK, but what about ghoulish gardens? We've asked those who look after some of the most well-known heritage gardens in the UK and uncovered seven seriously spooky tales from what may be the ghostliest gardens in the country.
The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
The Heligan estate famously incurred great losses in the First World War, when almost all of the gardeners enlisted to fight. Three quarters of them never returned. The garden was rediscovered, revived and opened to the public in the 1990s.
“From the early days at The Lost Gardens of Heligan there have been stories and experiences of ghosts, essences, forces, elementals, a poltergeist, many transparent presences and some things to which one would shudder to give a name,” says co-founder Sir Tim Smit.
“We opened in 1992 and it was not long before we had reports from visitors of feeling things that made them uneasy at the Crystal Grotto and the well. People reported being accompanied by a stranger who would walk through the wall of the Crystal Grotto, never to be seen again. This happened many times and there were tales of similar goings on in the Flower Garden.”
In buildings like the fruit storage bothy in the Melon Yard and the Head Gardener’s Office staff reported hearing footsteps from rooms with locked doors. “It became a bit of a joke, but no one was really laughing, and soon staff stopped working when night fell.”
One evening as the gardeners were leaving, he says, the footsteps were heard again but the gardener persuaded themselves it was nothing. “The following morning when they went to unlock the fruit store, they were astonished to find all the seed potatoes had gone. Even scarier, the potatoes were later found on the zinc counters in the Potting Shed, laid out ready for chitting. The gardeners returned them to the store but the potatoes disappeared and reappeared back at the potting table many more times.
Claremont, Surrey
In the book Haunted Inns of Surrey by Roger Longs, the author writes of Claremont House built for Sir John Vanbrugh in 1708. The grounds include a large manmade pond or small lake which is regularly reported as the site of unusual apparitions, such as a man by the nearby grotto in old-fashioned clothing in the style of a gamekeeper.
Longs posited that this ghost could be the angry spirit of famous landscape gardener William Kent, who designed the grounds including the grotto, lake and the island in the middle reached via a bridge. Once the work was complete, the Duke offered a paltry sum for his services and a fight ensued, which ended with Kent getting thrown in the lake by two heavies. He snuck back into the garden a few days later armed with two loaded pistols and was once again dumped in the water. He died a week later of a fever.
There are also rumours that sometimes a coach is heard going along the old route of the Portsmouth Road, next to the Amphitheatre.
Gibside, Tyne & Wear
The ghost of a woman wearing white has been seen near the Orangery on this National Trust estate, and organ music has been heard coming from the chapel in the grounds while it is locked. These happenings are thought to be linked to Mary Eleanor Bowes, an heiress of the family who was charmed and tricked by one Andrew ‘Stoney’ Bowes into a horrific marriage.
He tormented her, abused her physically and mentally, imprisoned her in the Hall and refused to let Mary, a passionate botanist, visit the greenhouses or the Orangery that she created. She did eventually manage to escape and divorce him, but some say she now perhaps still roams the gardens that she loved.
Blickling Garden, Norfolk
Blickling has 55 acres of formal gardens, including a parterre, lake and productive walled kitchen garden. The estate was the ancestral home of the Boleyn family, and Anne Boleyn's father, Sir Thomas, is said to haunt the woodlands and grounds, cursed for failing to prevent the executions of his daughter and son at the hand of Henry VIII. It has been reported that Anne appears by the Mausoleum in the Great Wood every 19 May, on the anniversary of her execution.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
The archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew contain a chronicle of the history of the gardens themselves, including a document known as the ‘supernatural file’. It recounts all the paranormal encounters reported by Kew’s staff over the years.
The gardens’ Temperate House is supposedly haunted by the spirit of a past assistant curator. It’s said that he likes to turn taps on and open and close doors. Staff have felt a presence in the glasshouse and seen something out of the corner of their eyes, which then disappears when they turn to look.
The Herbarium is reported to have a poltergeist that rattles the fire irons in the fireplace of one of the rooms, and a woman in an old-fashioned blue dress has been spotted walking up the stairs of the School of Horticulture before disappearing. That building, once a museum, has a habit of really spooking people out too, with several people mentioning a feeling of desperate fear and panic overtaking them.
Other recorded encounters include knocking and footsteps in the Orangery, a freezing cold shivery patch by the gate of Queen’s Cottage in the grounds, even in summer, and an oppressive atmosphere of despair on the Holly Walk.
Gunby Hall, Lincolnshire
The grounds of Gunby Hall are known for their beauty and tranquillity, but on the aptly named 'Ghost Walk' along the pond, many visitors have reported an uncomfortable feeling of being watched and attacks of sudden chills. As well as a reputed curse on the property, which stated that no male heir would ever inherit it (which has turned out to be true), there is a local legend of a tragedy some believe explains the goings on in that area.
While Sir William Massingberd was living at the Hall, a young coachman's assistant fell in love with his daughter, and she with him. They planned to elope, but were discovered and dramatically stopped when her father shot the young man and threw his body into the pond. Some tellings report that the daughter was also killed in her father's fit of rage. The story goes that both spirits haunt the path by the pond, seeking their way back to each other.
Hinton Ampner, Hampshire
Hinton Ampner garden contains an orchard, which was the site of a previous house here that was pulled down in the mid 1700s due to terrifying paranormal happenings. It gained a reputation for sinister goings on after the owner Lord Stawel had an affair with his sister-in-law and it was rumoured a resulting child had disappeared. He died suddenly in the parlour a year later, and servants and locals began hearing sounds at night and seeing a man that fit his description in the moonlight. This didn’t prevent a couple called the Ricketts, slave traders with estates in Jamaica, from renting the house for their family, but they were almost immediately plagued by slamming doors and the sound of footsteps. Mrs Mary Jervis Ricketts said it sounded like someone 'slapping doors with vehemence’.
While Mr Ricketts was away, and spooky events such as disembodied voices, groans and shrieking continued, the servants began to quit. The lady of the house swore she heard a man approaching her bed. Visitors including her brother also experienced these phemonena, and he declared the house unfit to live in. The next tenant also left suddenly and then the house was left empty for several years until it was decided to simply demolish it. Rumour had it that workman found the remains of what may have been a baby in a box under the floor.
A version of these events, based on Mrs Mary Ricketts' letters and written accounts, was published as A Hampshire Ghost Story by The Gentleman's Magazine in 1872. It is thought to have partly inspired the Henry James’s gothic novel The Turn of the Screw.
Several years ago, excavation work in the area revealed some of the foundations of the original house.
With thanks to the National Trust, RBG Kew and The Lost Gardens of Heligan.