A HIDDEN HORTICULTURAL GEM

It’s a hidden horticultural gem where generations of gardeners have cultivated exotic fruits and blooms for more than 230 years.

Centuries ago the hothouse, tucked away at the top of Temple Newsam’s Walled Garden, was used to ripen pineapples and grow colourful flowers for the aristocrats who lived at Temple Newsam House.

Now a new generation of gardeners are continuing their esteemed predecessors’ green-fingered legacy, tending to and conserving a nationally important array of rare plants for the people of Leeds.

Originally built in the 18th Century, the lengthy greenhouse still features remnants of the original flues which were used to channel hot air around the structure and ripen fruit.

These are believed to have included pineapples, which were nurtured in nearby glasshouses and once seen as a huge status symbol in aristocratic circles, where they would be the centrepieces at social gatherings.

After a theft 1777, when 10 of his prized pineapple crop was stolen, Richard Taylor, gardener to Viscount Irwin, reputedly offered a ten guineas reward for information leading to the perpetrator.

The Taylor family, who lived in quarters in nearby Colton village, were head gardeners at the estate for generations and famously trained many young horticulturalists who graduated to work at other estates around the UK.

Today, the estate’s cohort of gardeners’ duties include conserving a number of national collections of plants including Delphiniums and Chrysanthemums.

They also carefully care for a stunning national collection of Coleus, grown for their colourful patterned leaves, and have even developed around 20 new varieties including one called “Temple Newsam”.