On Holly Walk, the path above the Summer House, are some hollies which were planted after the removal of rhododendron plants. Ilex aquifolium Flavescens, Madame Briot, Bacciflava, Silver van Tol, Ferox Argentea, and Handsworth New Silver are planted in big groups, interspersed with Monkey Puzzle’s Araucaria araucana. These were grown from seed and Deborah Duchess planted out seventeen among the hollies and several are still thriving.
The Summer House was described by Deborah Duchess as ‘a hideous building of the Bachelor Duke’s’. He wrote: ‘here is, or ought to be, Luttrell’s seat, in the spot he fancied: the style is Saracenic; the columns are of Aberdeen granite, and the rude central capital of serpentine came with me from Palermo, and is the cause of this manner of decoration.’
The Golden Grove planting includes Malus x zumi Golden Hornet, Gleditsia triacanthos Sunburst, Acer shirasawanum Aureum, Rhododendron Haida Gold, R. Golden Wedding, Spiraea x japonica Goldflame and S. x japonica Gold Mound.
Above the Golden Grove are winter- and early spring-flowering shrubs, including Mahonia, Hamamelis, and Viburnum x bodnantense.
