There will be pumpkin fun at the Gardens of Easton Lodge's last Sunday open day of the season.

The open day on October 23 at the Historic England Grade II registered gardens at Little Easton, near Great Dunmow, will include a pumpkin trail and craft activity for the children.

There will be den building in the Lime Wood, and children and their families will enjoy climbing into the treehouse and looking out over the autumnal landscape.

The Gardens of Easton Lodge will be looking lovely, too.

The dahlias and Michaelmas daisies will still be flowering in the Italian Garden, and the walled kitchen garden and the trees will be taking on their range of autumn colours.

The Preservation Trust’s archivists will be sharing stories of the gardeners who tended Easton Lodge over the years.

The Trust will also be selling its pumpkins and squashes, including the weird but tasty tromboncino squashes, and will have a well-stocked jam and jelly tombola.

Other stalls will include a local plantsman, crafts and honey and bee products, and the RSPB, the Woodland Trust and Essex Wildlife Trust will be at the gardens to talk to visitors about their work.

Local performer Richard Allen will be singing a wide range of Rat Pack, jazz and other 60s and 70s songs. And, of course, the Trust’s volunteers will provide tasty bacon rolls and homemade soup and cakes.

The Gardens of Easton Lodge October 23 Open Day is the last Sunday open day of the season.

The new season starts in February 2023, when the Gardens will be full of snowdrops.


About Easton Lodge

Easton Lodge dates back to Elizabeth I’s time.

The original mansion was largely destroyed by fire and was rebuilt in 1847. It had to be refashioned again, following another fire in 1918.

After the Second World War, when the estate was no longer needed for an airfield, it was returned to the Maynard family.

Most of the mansion was pulled down and the gardens went untended.

The remaining wing, now called Warwick House, is now in private hands, but its part of the original gardens are also open to visitors on Sunday Open Days.

Harold Peto, the renowned Victorian landscape designer and architect, shaped the Gardens of Easton Lodge for Frances Evelyn Maynard, the Countess of Warwick.

Peto’s designs include the sunken Italian garden, and its 100ft long pool with water lilies, which has recently been restored, a treehouse which has been recreated, and a glade with Japanese rill and other features, which leads down to a trout lake.

For further information, go to www.eastonlodge.co.uk/whats-on