The gardens designed by Thomas Hayton Mawson

Graythwaite Hall, located near Ulverston in the Lake District, is the home of the Sandys family. The house dates from the 17th century with 18th-century extensions and 19th-century refacing that gave it a Gothic Revival or Tudor Revival appearance. The grounds are surrounded by 7 acres of gardens laid out by Thomas Hayton Mawson from 1886 for Colonel Thomas Sandys.

The importance of this commission in Mawson's development as a landscape architect has been discussed by garden historians and was acknowledged by Mawson himself in his book The Art and Craft of Garden Making (1900). The gardens are set in a wooded valley featuring an arboretum with fine trees. The surrounding woods were a favorite walking spot for William Wordsworth and served as the backdrop for Beatrix Potter's story 'The Fairy Caravan'.

Ornamental iron gates at the entrance to the formal gardens were designed by local architect Dan Gibson, who later collaborated with Mawson on other projects such as Brockhole and Hanley Park. The gardens are open to the public from early April until mid August, while the hall remains closed. The grounds are best viewed in late spring when the rhododendrons and azaleas are in bloom, though the Dutch garden and former rose garden add interest in other seasons.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons