A new Arcadia garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, has been created on 15 acres of previously uncultivated ground.
Steve Porter, head of gardens at Chatsworth, said: “We’ve cleared it out, we’ve taken away a lot of the vegetation and created meadows within that. Probably 12,000 perennials have gone in there. From bulbs in the spring to grasses and flowers in the autumn there will be something to see all the way through the 15 acres with lots of paths to explore.”
Rock stacks, using limestone rocks packed with fossils from a local quarry, are the latest arrivals in the historic Paxton Rock Garden, which was laid out by the 6th Duke of Devonshire and Joseph Paxman in the 1840s.
The rock garden now reflects the work of landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith.
Steve Porter said: “We’ve looked at paths, we’ve put more access in and put more rocks in and made it more interesting. The best part of 100,000 plants have been planted in the past three years to provide a long season of interest and a fantastic backdrop to these rocks which are just spectacular."
The Rose Garden at Chatsworth has also been reimagined to include foxgloves, iris, geraniums, pinks and violas as well as arbors providing frames for roses to climb and visitors to sit.