One of the UK’s largest plant nurseries, Johnsons Nurseries Ltd, has continued its long-standing relationship with the five-star luxury resort, Rockliffe, supplying more than 17,000 plants and trees for its newly landscaped grounds as part of its multimillion-pound transformation.
Set within 375 acres of historic parkland near Darlington, Rockliffe has undergone an extensive transformation, including the restoration of its Grade II-listed Old Hall, enhanced accommodation, new dining experiences, and the creation of a standalone restaurant pavilion named Atlas.
The ambitious project has seen the resort's gardens and outdoor spaces transformed to complement the renovated and new buildings, creating an attractive and welcoming environment for guests.
The landscape and planting scheme was designed by Colour Landscape Architects, while Johnsons Nurseries supplied an extensive selection of shrubs, trees, instant hedging, ornamental grasses, flowering perennials and topiary, creating year-round interest throughout the newly landscaped grounds.
Among the varieties supplied were mature Scots pines, multi-stem Amelanchier lamarckii and Magnolia trees, alongside instant Carpinus betulus hedging and ornamental Taxus baccata topiary. The planting scheme also features an extensive mix of flowering perennials and ornamental grasses, including Anemone 'Honorine Jobert', Geranium 'Rozanne', Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', Calamagrostis and Deschampsia, providing seasonal colour, texture and movement throughout the gardens.
The landscaping was carried out in-house by Rockliffe’s Estates team, led by Head of Engineering & Estates Phil Mennell. Despite one of the hottest and driest summers, the team worked tirelessly to establish thousands of plants and trees, extensive hedging and new lawn areas, overcoming challenging conditions and tight deadlines to complete the grounds ahead of the resort's reopening.
Group Managing Director at Johnsons Nurseries, Graham Richardson, said: "We're incredibly proud to have supplied the plants for Rockliffe’s newly transformed gardens as part of this prestigious development.
From the restoration of the historic walled garden to this latest transformation, it's rewarding to see how the grounds have evolved. The finished gardens look fantastic, and we're delighted to have played a part in creating outdoor spaces that guests can enjoy for years to come."
Phil Mennell, Head of Engineering & Estates at Rockliffe, added: "This has been one of the most ambitious landscaping projects we've undertaken at Rockliffe, and I'm incredibly proud of what our Estates team has achieved. Working closely with Johnsons Nurseries has been invaluable, ensuring we had the quality and variety of plants needed to bring the designs to life. It's been fantastic to see the gardens transform, and I'm looking forward to watching them establish and mature for our guests to enjoy for many years to come."
Emma Fletcher, Director at Colour Landscape Architects, said: “Johnsons have been a great support on the delivery of the new gardens at Rockliffe, assisting us on species choices and availability from early design stages and providing flexibility in deliveries to align with the challenging project programme. We are delighted that the completed gardens have been so well received, and a large part of that is the impact that the planting beds and stock have had.”
The completed gardens complement the resort's historic parkland setting, enhancing the guest experience and marking another chapter in Johnsons' long-standing relationship with Rockliffe, which reopened at the beginning of September.
