Snowdrop Sundays – Harbinger of Spring!

Sunday 5th February & Sunday 12th February 2023

William Wordsworth called the snowdrop a ‘venturous harbinger of Spring’ and visitors who come to Mapperton for Snowdrop Sundays will see sweeps of them in the lower garden.  They will also encounter many hellebores – the Lent lily, Corsican and stinking hellebores – all around. Camellias are coming through especially on the north façade of the house where Bow Bells and the single white camellia are already making a show. The early crocus (thomasinianus) is making a blue carpet under the great Acer Griseum beside the camellias; and daffodils are sneaking out.

The Orangery is warm and a delight to sit in with the citrus trees and the tree ferns (dicksonia antarctica and squarrosa) sheltering and the climbing rose, Niphetos, about to flower. 

We will be open on Sunday 5 February and Sunday 12 February from 11am to 4pm.  The Coach House café will be open offering hot drinks and delicious cakes for you to enjoy after or before your walk. Selected plants, including snowdrops, will also be on sale.  

Admission is £5 per adult and under 16s are free.   Tickets can be bought on arrival.  Don’t miss this chance to say goodbye to winter and welcome this first harbinger of Spring!

Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,

Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbringer

of Spring, And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

‘To a Snow-Drop’ William Wordsworth (1770-1850)