ALNWICK GARDEN, THE

The Alnwick Garden is one of the most exciting contemporary gardens to be developed anywhere in the world in the last 100 years and has become the third most visited garden in the United Kingdom in the 10 years since it opened. Its centrepiece is the Grand Cascade, a magnificent tumbling mass of water surrounded by cool hornbeam arbours. This leads to the geometric Ornamental Garden, with inviting pathways bordered by lavender and fruit trees. The fragrant Rose Garden, the mysterious Bamboo Labyrinth, the grim, locked Poison Garden and the huge and magnificent Tree House - all are linked by a network of green shapes and brought to life by water features. The flowing landscape that results is a fascinating sequence of quiet and busy spaces, full of surprises and delights. The Alnwick Garden is being created byJacques and Peter Wirtz, celebrated international garden designers from Belgium. In design terms it is fair to say that The Alnwick Garden pushes the boundaries, and this is due in no small part to the Duchess of Northumberland herself, who has always believed that almost anything is possible if you get the right people involved. Her original concept was to produce a garden design framework and then to bring in the specialists, the experts, the best in their field, to ensure that each individual garden and concept was cutting edge in terms of both design and technology.