Garden and greenhouse attraction best in Yorkshire

17:45 23rd December 2009

A garden and greenhouse site in Yorkshire has been awarded the title of Visitor Attraction of the Year.

The Scampston Walled Garden was honoured at the recent Yorkshire Moors and Coast Tourism Awards for providing the best site welcoming up to 50,000 visitors per year.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) revealed that the attraction is on its Recommended Gardens list and was chosen ahead of 200 other Yorkshire businesses which had been nominated by the public.

Judges said it was a great day out and good value for money, with the site finally being handed the title ahead of a shortlist of four other top attractions.

Over the past decade, Scampston has been enjoying a renewed lease of life after renowned Dutch plantsman Piet Oudolf revamped the old Victorian kitchen garden.

As well as transforming it into a modern attraction, Oudolf installed his trademark grass banks made of Molinia caerulea, which create the effect of a prairie.

Meanwhile, the RHS has revealed that Devon's Torre Abbey garden has brought together a number of poisonous plants used in Agatha Christies novels as a nod to the writer, who spend much of her life in the area.