HERGEST CROFT GARDENS
Nestled under iconic Hergest Ridge with fabulous view towards the Black Mountains, these critically acclaimed and stunning 70 acre gardens hold national collections of Maples, Birches and Zelkovas. Created and extended by five generations of the Banks family, Hergest Croft Gardens boast one of the finest collections of plants and shrubs in the UK, with many rare and exotic species and over 130 Champion trees.
What's flowering now?
The answer to “What’s flowering now?” is “just about everything”. The Azalea garden is still in full, gaudy and sweetly scented bloom. Banks of rhododendrons surprise at every turn. Fragrant Philadelphus are in their first flush, and elegant varieties of Iris grace the edges of the ponds.
In the Kitchen Garden, fruit and vegetables are growing while you look at them: strawberries are abundant and globe artichokes are swaying in the breeze. The herbaceous border looks magnificent and the roses are wonderfully romantic and fragrant. Hergest is at its summer best.
Artist in Residence
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Miranda Whitten-Walker as our new Artist in Residence for the 2026 season.A Kington-based contemporary artist and printmaker, Miranda will undertake a twelve-month residency from March 2026, working in the gardens throughout the seasons and drawing inspiration from Hergest Croft’s celebrated landscape, champion trees and rare plant collections.
Specialising in nature and landscapes, Miranda is particularly known for her complex, multi-layered linocut prints, which explore British hill ranges from unusual perspectives. Her work typically begins as plein-air sketches made outdoors, before being developed in the studio into prints with a distinctive painterly quality, blending abstract and realistic elements. Strongly influenced by the textures and erosive forces shaping the rural environment, her practice reflects a deep engagement with landscape and place.
An emerging figure in the UK art scene, Whitten-Walker was the 2025 recipient of the h.Art Emerging Artist Bursary Award, having shifted to full-time art in 2024 from a career as a biologist. She is a self-taught artist, a Fellow of the RSA and a member of Aberystwyth Printmakers. Her work has been exhibited widely across the Welsh Borders and beyond, including in Ironbridge and at Liverpool’s Bluecoat, and has featured in publications by the BBC and Oxford University Press.
As featured in
HEREFORD
TIMES
COUNTRYLIFE
BBC WALES