Cherie's Place

The second day of my holiday was spent in Alnwick garden and town.  The first thing that you see as you enter the garden is the spectacular  Grand Cascade.

When passing through the archway into The Alnwick Garden, the view leads immediately to The Garden’s centrepiece; the Grand Cascade. A magnificent tumbling mass of water with spellbinding displays, the Grand Cascade is the largest water feature of its kind in the country. It is built into two listed earth banks from the 1850s, which create The Garden’s slope.

Every minute, 7260 gallons of water tumble down a series of 21 weirs, with riotous water displays on the hour and the half hour. Jets of water shoot high in the air and splash on the terrace as children run underneath them. Children also collect water from the water walls at the foot of the Grand Cascade, in John Deere’s mini tractors.

The Grand Cascade is surrounded by hornbeam pergolas which echo the stone curves, with windows looking onto the water. Beyond the pergolas, lie rills and shallow pools. The Grand Cascade is built from local Darney stone, and computer-controlled by state-of-the-art equipment in the pump rooms below. The water is filtered and recycled.*

*From the Alnwick Garden website.

Tags: Alnwick Garden, Fountain, Northumber- land, The Grand Cascade, Vacation, Water