Marks Hall Arboretum

Once, Marks Hall Arboretum was a Jacobean country house some 3 km north of Coggeshall in Essex, England. Now the Gardens and Arboretum feature a tree collection from all the temperate areas of the world. The collection provides interest and enjoyment throughout the year and is set in more than 200 acres of historic landscape . You can follow the paths to move through the Arboretum, where you can see beautiful vistas and a host of exotic trees from around the world. The Visitor Centre, housed in a restored Essex barn, offers information, a Shop and Tea Room. View the Marks Hall website. View a map of the gardens. I hope you enjoy these images and I encourage you to visit this gem of Essex. Click on the images for larger views and more text.

Notes on the images in the Slideshow – 1

There are two lakes at Marks Hall. The upper and lower lakes. In between them is a dam wall which you can walk over. A gate leads to a lawned area alongside the upper lake. The gate had diamond shaped trellis and one image captured the lake through this diamond. A chance shot shows a bird diving vertically into the lower lake in search of fish! Marks Hall is very colourful in the Autumn. One of the shots in the slideshow shows the dam from the lower lake. Here we see lots of different coloured shrubs and trees. This is followed by a view of the dam from the upper lake. Here we see the white, orange and green foliage reflected in the water.

Notes on the images in the Slideshow – 2

The image with the caption “reflections in the upper lake” is captured from the top of the upper lake. The cone shapes of the trees generate splendid reflections and some have autumnal colours. On one of my visits to Marks Hall a large number of sculptures were in the gardens. “Man escaping” is a sculpture of a man pressing himself up, as if escaping from the ground! In some ways it is a disturbing image! In the walled garden black and white brickwork has been set in an “S” shape to delineate the beds and the lawn. The purple flowers set it off really well.

Above the lakes

Walking above the lakes there is still a lot to see. There is acres and acres of woodland to move around and some large grassed open spaces. The red berries in the final image stood out from the bushes