Sheringham Park

Sheringham Park
Sheringham Park. The rhododendron gardens
Sheringham Park within Norfolk
Location	Sheringham, North Norfolk, East of England, Norfolk
Coordinates	52°55′48″N 01°10′30″E / 52.93000°N 1.17500°E / 52.93000; 1.17500
Established	July 1812 (1812-07)
Owned by	In the care of the National Trust
Website	www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sheringham-park/

Sheringham Park is a landscape park and gardens near the town of Sheringham, Norfolk, England.^[1] The park surrounds Sheringham Hall, lying mostly to its south. The freehold of the hall is owned by the National Trust and is privately leased on a long leasehold. Visitors to this historic building must contact the leaseholder directly for an appointment. The plantations of Sheringham Park are in the care of the National Trust and open to visitors. National Trust members and guests have no rights of access across the park and farmland surrounding Sheringham Hall. Access to these areas is solely at the discretion of George Youngs (Farms) Ltd which farms the Sheringham estate, as laid out in the 1953 agreement between that farming company and the then freeholder. Access to the plantations of Sheringham Park has become an important aspect to locals of Sheringham and visitors alike and reference to this can be found in the Domesday Book, page 56.^{[citation needed]}

The park was designed by Humphry Repton (1752–1818) who presented his proposals in July 1812 in the form of one of his Red Books.^[2] He described Sheringham as his "favourite and darling child in Norfolk". Abbot and Charlotte Upcher bought the estate in 1811, and successive generations of the Upcher family did much to develop the estate, the hall and the park, as well as building a school.

There are fine mature woodlands and a large variety of rhododendrons and azaleas. In the early 20th century, Henry Morris Upcher obtained rhododendron seeds of various types from plantsman Ernest "Chinese" Wilson. Plants from this source which can found at the garden include Rhododendron ambiguum, calophytum and decorum, among others.^[3] Many other species of tree and shrub are represented in the garden, including fifteen kinds of magnolia, large specimen pieris. Among the other trees are maples, acers, styrax, eucryphia, pocket handkerchief tree davidia involucrata and a fine example of the snowdrop tree. Several overlook towers provide good views over the plantations, and of the nearby coast and surrounding countryside. A garden temple was constructed in the park in 1975 to the designs of James Fletcher-Watson.^[4]