Things to do in the gardens at Cragside

A family of three walking along a path in the Rock Garden. It's rhododendron season and the family are surrounded by pink and purple flowers. — The countdown to the rhododendron season has begun! | © National Trust Images, Annapurna Mellor

Cragside House sits at the heart of the ultimate designer garden. With spectacular vision, William and Margaret Armstrong transformed the grounds from a bare moorside into a fantasy mountain landscape. They filled the grounds with millions of trees and covered the hillsides in rhododendron.

Created for beauty and function you’ll discover towering trees, overflowing flower beds, trickling burns, dramatic water cascades as well as engineered lakes that were created to harness the power of water.

A family are walking down some stone steps in the Rock Garden at Cragside. With it being rhododendron season, pink and purple flowers are in bloom all around them. An adult leads the way in a pink striped top. — Immerse yourself in the display on a walk. | © National Trust Images / Annapurna Mellor

It's almost rhododendron time!

Cragside’s rhododendron display is a flower show like no other. For a few short weeks each spring the huge 1000-acre estate that surrounds the House, bursts into bloom.

We’ve been on rhododendron watch the last few days. With petals starting to burst through their buds, and a scattering of flowers across the Rock Garden, we’re predicting that we’ll be in full bloom sometime next week (week commencing Monday 20 May). Keep a look out for the big announcement here or on Facebook, Instagram and X.

Ramble through the 'rhodies'

One of the best ways to experience the this vibrant display is on a waymarked walk. There are 40-miles of footpaths at Cragside, so this is an easy way to navigate the grounds with waymarkers to guide you.

We recommend the Gun Walk, where you'll experience path lined with towering 'rhodies' on this rugged route through the heart of Cragside. The Inspiration Trail is a short but mighty hike. You'll enjoy a short decent to Slipper Lake - a small tranquil lake nestled in the hillside - before traversing the crag. When you reach the top you will witness views of millions of flowers cascading down the hillside between the trees. For a gentler stroll, you can wander around the banks of Nelly's Moss Lakes that are covered in purple flowers.

You can also experience the display by car along the 6-mile Carriage Drive. The road is lined with flowers. From here you will see the rhododendrons stretching up the rocky hillside. There are plenty of places to stop, take photos, and do some more exploring.

Get up close to the rhododendrons

One of the best ways to get up close to the display is on a walk along the weaving paths of the Rock Garden. This impressive garden wraps around the House and the stone walkways are lined with some of Cragside's unique varieties including 'Lady Armstrong' which was named after William Armstrong's wife, Margaret.

The best places for photos

Cragside House surrounded by colourful patchwork of rhododendrons. — Rhododendrons are all purple and pink. | © Sheila Rayson

A picture perfect view of the House

It wouldn't be a visit to Cragside without capturing the iconic shot of the House sitting at the top of the Rock Garden from the Iron Bridge. With the rhododendrons is full bloom, the House is surrounded by a patchwork of colour.

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Rock Garden

The Rock Garden surrounds Cragside House. Follow the stone steps and paths and explore the nooks and crannies. There’s a spectacular view of the Debdon Valley and the Iron Bridge from the top.

The sandstone that makes the garden was mined from quarries on the grounds, along with the stone needed to build the House. The paths are lined with rhododendron and heathers, bringing a flourish of colour to the garden in the spring.

It was highly fashionable for rhododendron to be named after influential Victorians. Cragside’s historic records show that cultivars named after Richard Norman Shaw, the visionary architect and Lady Armstrong, William Armstrong’s wife, were planted. The originals of these varieties were never found during a rejuvination project in the 1990s, but the National Trust sourced these cultivars and replanted them in the garden.

Formal Garden

It’s well worth taking a short hike up the stone steps from the Iron Bridge to the Formal Garden. Once at the top you will be welcomed by colourful flower beds and lots of benches to rest your legs. The gardeners have brought back the fashionable Victorian displays. Every plant and flower has been carefully selected for its bright, bold colour and meticulously planted in straight lines and geometric patterns to bring uniformity to the beds.

Delight your senses at the small sensory garden where you can touch, smell and shake some of the plants. Find the ferneries, with its petit doorway and pond on the top tier of the garden.

The House is Britian’s original smart home, filled with pioneering technologies for efficient modern living. Armstrong's passion for efficiency spills out into other parts of the grounds, including the Formal Garden.

Orchard House

The Orchard House is the last remaining part of a grand glasshouse suite, which before the trees grew, would have been seen for miles around, glistening in the sunshine. It had its very own coal-powered central heating system, which could be isolated to give specific plants the extra heat needed to grow. The large pots, were made from upcycled earthenware pipes that were designed to rotate, like a lazy-Susan, allowing every part of the fruit trees to get the much-needed sunshine and encourage even growing.

Clock Tower

The Clock Tower overlooks the Formal Garden. This decorative, Gothic Revival building was built to house the estate’s timepiece in 1864. What makes this clock special is its extra mechanism which allowed the clock to act as an elaborate ‘alarm clock’ for the estate workers. It sounded 20 times at 6am and then again at 6.30am, to ensure that the worker living locally had risen from their beds. It also chimed to mark the start and the end of the day and breaktimes.

Pinetum

If you’re looking for a peaceful stroll where you feel surrounded by nature, head for the Pinetum. As you wander across the timber bridge, you will feel like you are stepping into another world, as towering giant tree reach up to the sky in front of you. Follow the weaving path alongside the babbling burn, where you may spot birds swooping and diving across the top of the water. At this time of year, the sun can stream between the branches of some of the tallest trees of their kind in the country creating a cathedral-like affect across the woodland floor. Don’t forget to look out for ‘Douglas’, our friendly green giant nestled in the trees.

The Gorge

The Gorge is open between April and October each year. This scenic but rugged chasm takes you from the Pinetum to the Powerhouse, where you can find out more about how Armstrong turned water into light. Sturdy footwear is essential as you climb down the steps that have been carved into the rock and cross a timber bridge. From here you will witness the sound of rushing water tumbling into the river below. This impressive noise abruptly stops as you follow the wooden walkway around the cliff.

If you imagine the Rock Garden as an enormous rockery and the Formal Garden as the main flower beds, the Gorge is the Armstrongs' impressive water feature.

This area has always been a natural waterway, carrying water from the Debdon Burn to the Coquet River, but Armstrong wanted to make this area even more impressive and blasted the Gorge to increase the flow of water. With an eye for detail, the boulders were carefully re-arranged to engineer the best looking cascades to add further drama to this extraordinary landscape.

A view of Tumbleton Lake at Cragside on a sunny day during the summer. — Tumbleton Lake powered hydraulics in the Pump House. | © National Trust Images / Chris Lacey

Engineered Lakes

There are three engineered lakes which were created to harness the power of water.

Tumbleton Lakes

Tumbleton Lake is next to the visitor centre. At a little over a mile round, it’s a perfect walk for stretching your legs if you’ve been in the car for a while. At the top of the lake, you will see a view of the water and the towering trees in the distance, giving you a sense of the size and scale of the grounds. If you would like to walk a little further, Tumbleton Lake is also part of the waymarked Armstrong Trail which takes you on a tour of the lower estate.

Tumbleton Lake was created to store the much-needed water to power the hydraulic pump in the Pumphouse which drove water to main House. Armstrong adapted his dock-side crane technology for use on the grounds. In the House there is a second hydraulic pump in the ‘Jigger Room’ (in the basement from the Kitchen) which was used to operate a passenger lift. Tumbleton Lake may not be used to power hydraulics anymore but water from here is used to light the House.

The Archimedes Screw

In 2014, the Archimedes Screw was installed on the dam of lake – you can see this on the right as you drive towards the main car park on arrival. Water from the lake, turns the blades of a 17m galvanised steel tube. The motion of the rotating Screw is converted into electricity. This modern water-powered generator produces enough electricity to light the House.

Nelly’s Moss

High up on the grounds, is Nelly’s Moss Lakes. This popular part of the grounds is a haven for wildlife. The Greylag Geese and Swans make a return in the spring, and it’s one of the best places to spot emerging frogs and toads. You can follow the Nelly’s Moss walk around the lakes – look out for blue waymarkers to help you find you way.

This pair of lakes were part of Armstrong’s hydroelectric system. Water was fed into here via the Timber Flume from the surrounding moorside, and channelled to the Powerhouse at the bottom of the hillside where it was converted into hydroelectricity. Walter Mavin, the Caretaker of Electric Light, was in charge of caring for Armstrong’s experimental technology. The generators and dynamos didn’t produce enough electricity to light the whole House at once, so Andrew Crozier – the dedicated Butler – would ring the Powerhouse using the on-estate telephone system and request power to the rooms that the Armstrongs and their guests were using at the time.