York Gate Garden

York Gate is a small garden gem with many classic features in one acre around a stone-built house near Leeds. In 1951 the Spencer family moved to a former farm-house in Adel, on the outskirts of Leeds, in West Yorkshire. They immediately started to develop the structure of a garden which today delights and inspires.

All in the space of one acre are the ingredients of a classic garden. There is an orchard with pool, an arbour, a miniature pinetum, a dell with stream, topiary, a folly, a nutwalk, a peony bed, a canal, a paved garden, a shady fern border, a well-stocked herb garden, a summerhouse, an ally, vistas, a white and silver garden, a vegetable garden and a pavement maze.

The site is 400ft above sea level, on a gentle south-facing slope. The soil is a well-drained sandy loam.

Robin Spencer was the architect for this very special garden. He tragically died in 1982 aged 48. His mother Mrs Spencer carried on until she died in 1994, being pre-deceased by both her husband and son. She left the property in her will to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society (now Perennial – Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society) who took possession in 1995.

York Gate Garden