Burnby Hall Gardens

Today Cynthia and friends from Dulverton visited the national water lily collection at Burnby Hall.

Burnby Hall Gardens & Museum.

The ornamental gardens, the lakes with a National Collection of Hardy Water Lilies, and the Stewart Museum are the creation of Major Percy Marlborough Stewart (1871-1962).

Major Stewart’s family was descended from the Earls of Galloway, and through them the Spencer-Churchills; his godfather was the Duke of Marlborough and he was a 2nd cousin of Winston Churchill. From 1904 when he and his wife bought the estate, the Major devoted his life to creating these gardens of outstanding beauty; interspersed with eight world tours between 1906 and 1922, when he, often with his wife, visited every continent, explored remote regions and collected a remarkable range of cultural and religious exhibits (now housed in the Stewart Museum).

On his death, his wife having predeceased him and there being no children of the marriage, Major Stewart (knowing that it was also his wife’s wish), willed that the Gardens and the Collection should be left in trust for the benefit of the people of Pocklington. It is this Trust that now manages the estate as a charity.