Kingston Maurward Gardens & Animal Park

General information

ANIMAL PARK

HAVE FUN FEEDING the sheep and goats and meet all our farmyard friends including cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and more.

The Animal Park is working with the RARE BREEDS SURVIVAL TRUST to enhance its breeding program and during the last year introduced Portland sheep.

Children love the play area and NATURE TRAIL around the lake.

GARDENS

A tranquil, peaceful and intimate spot, the gardens are beautifully situated in undulating Dorset countryside, with a lake, canals, broad sweeping and formal gardens.
The lovely 35 acre formal gardens were created by the Hanburys between 1915 and 1922 within the existing framework of an eighteenth century Capability Brown style parkland setting and the vestiges of a Victorian garden.
The formal gardens are set on a number of axes – the main north/south axis leads from the Red Garden, through the Mediterranean Border, to the Double Herbaceous Border and the main east/west axis leads from the Brick Garden, along the Terrace Border, and the south front of the Main House.
On either side of these axes are small areas of self contained “compartments” or “rooms”, partitioned by hedges of crisply cut yew or box, which form the main structure of these gardens. Each of these has a central feature, such as a pool, or statuary or a theme, such as Penstemon Terrace or Rose Garden.
Each garden has a distinct character of its own and the carefully orchestrated planting and plant associations, designed to give colour throughout the year, all unite to ensure an overall pattern and harmony together with the subtle blending of the formal with the informal.