Walk into Trentham Estate expecting yet another grand Victorian garden and you are in for a surprise.
Where you might expect to find neatly laid out flower beds are the dramatic rivers of grass: towering stands of Molinia grasses separated by overgrown paths.
The prairie-like planting, by Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, may seem out of place in an historic garden, but Michael Hill, Trentham Estate's Head of Gardens and Estate, sees it differently.
"This place has layer upon layer of historical change," Hill says of Trentham, the former demesne of the dukes of Sutherland. "Hugely wealthy owners would continually update their gardens to reflect their passions and the fashions of the age. In the late 1600s, Charles Bridgeman laid out a huge garden here; later, big elements of that were swept away by Capability Brown. We are continuing that tradition."
With more than 80 hectares of gardens, parklands and a lake set amid a near 300-hectare estate, Trentham is one of the UK's great gardens.
However, when Hill came on board more than a decade ago, the grounds were in a state of decay.
"It was the saddest historical estate I had ever visited," Hill says. "It needed an enormous amount of care, attention and investment."
The tale of Trentham's decline is a familiar one: the owners ran out of money. The hall was sold and torn down, and various money-spinning ventures, from tennis courts to a bowling alley, were set up on the estate. There was even an attempt to develop the site as an amusement park.
In 1996, the current owners, St Modwen Properties, bought the estate and launched a £100 million budget regeneration program.
One of the program's priorities was restoring key elements of the garden including the landscape designed by 18th century garden architect Capability Brown. This required a significant amount of tree felling and the removal of overgrown shrubbery.
"We have two miles of meadows through Capability Brown woodlands, which we have planted with a mixture of British, American and Asiatic plants on a vast scale."
Other elements received a more radical makeover.
Take the classic Italianate garden, a typical feature of Victorian gardens. Another contemporary designer, Tom Stuart-Smith, was asked to revive it.
"Tom turned that garden upside down.Instead of the typical straight lines of geraniums and roses, you have a broader range of perennials, creating something new and fresh."
Equally bold is the floral labyrinth, another new feature by Oudolf. Thirty beds are planted with bright, headily scented perennials, creating a maze-like landscape designed for drifting through.
"We want to create something that visitors respond to emotionally, that they feel a connection to."
Trentham's reinvention has been a resounding success since it reopened in 2004, attracting half a million visitors last year and this year scoring the title of UK Garden of the Year from the BBC's Countryfile magazine.
Much of its appeal lies in its diversity. While some visitors will stick to strolling the shores of the 1.5 kilometre-long Capability Brown-designed lake, others will be drawn by the pocket-sized concept gardens tucked into the western half of the estate.
Anyone is welcome to submit an idea for one of these gardens; some are the work of local horticultural students, others have been created by organisations such as the Girl Guides Association. The designs are regularly rotated.
"The idea is that visitors may be inspired to take some of the ideas back their own gardens."
Among the displays are a Jurassic garden, with ancient plants and a dinosaur footprint; a Japanese garden; a fruit and vegetable garden and even a sound garden, activated when visitors places their hands in one of 12 slots in the wall.
Another unusual introduction to the estate has been a herd of Red Poll cattle.
"It is part of our conservation management brief, returning the character of the estate to what it was."
The cows have also made work easier for the gardeners, munching their way through unwanted growths of brambles and Himalayan balsam, an invasive pest.
"We would otherwise have had to resort to chemical or mechanical approaches; this proved a much better way to manage a significant problem."
The one certainty for Trentham Estate is that things will continue to change. Even popular features such as the Floral Labyrinth have a limited shelf life.
"I think it is wrong to get too attached to a display of ephemeral planting," Hill says. "Change is really important; it is the nature of gardening."
www.trentham.co.uk
Trentham Estate is an easy day trip from London or Manchester. British Airways flies daily to London and Manchester from Sydney via Singapore, with connections from Melbourne. For more information, see www.ba.com
Neighbouring Trentham village is home to a number of restaurants, including David's Brasserie, which serves hearty sandwiches and salads and hot roasts. See www.davidsbrasserie.co.uk
This series of "outdoor rooms" surrounding the ruins of an Elizabethan mansion, created by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson, include a white garden, a cottage garden and the Lime Walk.
This 18th century water garden has scored a UNESCO World Heritage listing for its lakes, cascades and canals, set in a landscape scattered with ruins and temples.
This 80-hectare garden includes a lush sub-tropical jungle complete with bamboo and ferns, an alpine ravine, and a hide from which to view the estate's wildlife.
This walled garden is best-known for its lovely rose garden with more than 500 varieties. The garden also contains pleasure grounds, a winter garden and riverside walks.
Famous for its 55 metre Laburnum Arch — at its best in late spring — these gardens showcase an extraordinary range of plants from around the world, including collections of embothrium, eucryphia, magnolia and rhododendron.
