We need to “change the way we garden”, says the award-winning designer behind a new garden focused on climate resilience and biodiversity that has been revealed at Beningbrough Hall near York.

Andy Sturgeon says the UK can expect “warmer summers with prolonged dry periods and drought, but also an increase in very wet days, particularly in winter”.

Beningbrough’s head gardener Sam Shipman says it has rained nearly every day since construction of the new area started in 2023. “The irony of building a Mediterranean garden in one of the wettest autumns, winters and then springs on record has not been lost on any of us.”

Sturgeon designed the Mediterranean Garden at the National Trust property as part of an ongoing project to revive the wider eight-acre garden.

Andy Sturgeon at Beningbrough. Credit: National Trust / Joe Priestley

The Mediterranean Garden is the largest phase since Sturgeon began working with the Trust since 2016. Sturgeon selected more than 4,000 peat-free grown plants from Mediterranean climates, including herbaceous perennials, grasses, trees and shrubs.

Plants such as Koelreuteria paniculata and Ozothamnus ‘Silver Jubilee’ feature for their resilience against a changing climate. What was formerly an underused grassed area now includes 3,500 plants that are on the RHS Plants for Pollinators list, whereas only 10 were there previously.

“What we have created is in effect a vast gravel garden that sits comfortably in the historic setting – I hope that it will feel quite timeless,” says Sturgeon.

Underneath the garden, a large tank has been constructed to capture rainfall. A series of long, low Yorkstone walls and scattered boulders add a Mediterranean aesthetic. Blakedown Landscapes built the hard landscape elements together with planting the specimen trees and hedging.

Andy Jasper, head of gardens and parklands at the National Trust, says: “The new Mediterranean Garden sits perfectly alongside the Italian architecture of the hall. Over the centuries, the hall has been constantly reinvented – this new garden continues that spirit of renaissance. We hope that visitors will enjoy this garden, but also be inspired to future proof their own gardens.”