Newby Hall has re-opened it’s grounds to visitors.
The award-winning gardens will be open from today, June 3 for season ticket holders, and from Saturday, June 6 for the general public.
Guests have to book tickets in advance and pick a time slot, which will stagger arrival times. A maximum of 450 people will be allowed into the grounds per day, which compares to a usual capacity of 1200. Additional safety measures are also in place for visitors, including more toilets.
Visitors will be able to walk around the gardens and buy takeaway snacks and drinks, or enjoy their own picnic within the grounds. Its other attractions, including the railway, restaurant and teddy bears exhibition, will remain closed for now.
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Stuart Gill who is the Commercial Director at Newby Hall told the Stray Ferret:
When people arrive they will receive a warm welcome, but there will be extra precautions in place. Such as extra toilets, screens between staff and visitors and increased cleaning. It is a huge relief that we are able to re-open. It’s been a difficult time for us, we only have a 6 month season so weve only got 4 months now to keep us going gor the rest of the year. Can anywhere be 100% safe at the moment I don’t know but we are certainly doing all we can to make sure Newby is an enjoyable safe place to be.
Phil Cormie, who is Head Gardener at Newby Hall has been hard at work preparing to re-open:
The rest of the gardeners were furloughed until recently so I have been doing as much as possible to keep the garden going… were actually in the process today of planting up all of the autumn garden… we’ve been sweeping the footpaths, the lawns have been cut, the grass has been edged. We hope our visitors now come and enjoy the outdoors and appreciate all the hard work that has been done, as despite lockdown, nature carries on and the garden here at Newby is blooming.
The garden will still be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but it is hoped that the other attractions will be able to re-open within the next few weeks.
