Helmsley Walled Garden: A Family Friendly Guide & Review

Discover vibrant borders, beautiful greenhouses, apple orchards and even stop off for lunch at the Vine House Cafe. Helmsley Walled Garden in North Yorkshire is a day out you're not going to want to miss!

I've wanted to cover more days out in Yorkshire on my blog for the longest time as it's something we do so frequently as a family. I'm passionate about discovering new places and I'm keen to share them with you. I've also developed quite the backlog of content as a National Trust member. Days out have often featured in my simple joys posts, it makes sense to give them a proper place on my blog. So watch this space!

Today I'm going to introduce you to a little hidden gem in the North Yorkshire village of Helmsley.

Helmsley Walled Garden at a glance

• Location: Helmsley, North Yorkshire
• Size: Five acres
• Family-friendly: Yes
• Dogs: Welcome on leads
• Cafe: Yes
• Parking: Nearby at Cleveland Way Car Park
• Accessibility: Largely level and step-free
• Recommended time: Around 2 hours
• Entry fee: Adults £14 day ticket / £16 annual Children under 16 FREE
• Nearby: Helmsley Castle and Helmsley town centre

A Family Friendly Guide To Helmsley Walled Garden

Where Is Helmsley Walled Garden?

Helmsley Walled Garden is tucked away behind Helmsley Castle in the pretty North Yorkshire market town of Helmsley. It's in the North York Moors National Park, making it a lovely place to combine with other attractions in the area if you're planning a full day out.

The garden itself is surprisingly easy to miss if you don't know where you're going. A real 'if you know, you know' type of place. To get there it's accessed via a little lane behind the castle, and once you're through the entrance, it feels wonderfully tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Helmsley itself. It's lovely!

If you're visiting with children, I'd definitely allow a little extra time to explore Helmsley too. The town is only a short walk away and has plenty of independent shops, cafes and places to grab an ice cream, so you can easily turn a visit to the walled garden into a bigger day out.

The address for your sat nav is Cleveland Way, Helmsley, North Yorkshire, YO62 5AW.

How to Get to Helmsley Walled Garden

Getting to Helmsley Walled Garden is relatively straightforward, particularly if you're travelling by car. Helmsley is well connected to other parts of North Yorkshire, and it's a popular stopping point for anyone exploring the North York Moors.

Once you're in Helmsley, follow the signs towards Helmsley Castle. The walled garden is located just behind the castle, so the two attractions are really handy to combine if you're looking for more than one thing to do during your visit.

If you're walking from the centre of Helmsley, it's only a short stroll to the garden. This is probably the easiest option if you're already spending time in the town, although keep in mind that you'll be walking uphill slightly towards the castle.

For anyone arriving by public transport, there are bus services to Helmsley from surrounding towns and villages, although I'd check the current timetable before setting off as services can vary depending on the day and time of year.

The garden is also close to the Cleveland Way, so if you're walking part of the trail, it's a particularly convenient place to stop and explore.

Helmsley Walled Garden Parking

The nearest car park is the Cleveland Way Car Park, which is just a few minutes' walk away and is well signposted. It's only around a 3–4 minute walk from the car park to Helmsley Walled Garden, so you don't need to worry about parking miles away and having exhausted children complaining before you've even reached the entrance.

But let me divulge about my personal experience with the Cleveland Way car park, because this is where my visit got a little bit... interesting! It took me a LONG time to find a space when we visited. In fact, it took around 45 minutes, and I eventually resorted to asking people walking back to their cars whether they were leaving and, if they were, whether I could have their space. Rude? Probably. But I was 38 weeks pregnant, with an only-just-potty-trained toddler in the back of the car, so I was taking absolutely no prisoners! Thankfully it worked! (Otherwise I wouldn't be writing this family friendly review).

I really believe this was just 'one of those things' and a case of bad timing as when we returned to the car park at around 3pm, there were plenty of spaces available. So, if you're visiting Helmsley Walled Garden by car, I'd personally recommend arriving earlier in the day or later in the afternoon if you can.

The History Of The Gardens

The Helmsley Walled Garden has been part of Helmsley’s history since 1758, when the garden was originally created to provide fruit, vegetables and flowers for the Feversham family at nearby Duncombe Park. For many years, however, the garden was left unused and gradually fell into disrepair.

It wasn't until 1994 that a local lady named Alison Ticehurst saw the potential in this rather neglected corner of Helmsley. She had a vision for creating a beautiful garden that wasn't simply somewhere to admire plants and flowers, but somewhere people could also benefit from therapeutic horticulture. Sadly, Alison passed away before she was able to see her vision fully realised. Thankfully, her ethos has continued to shape Helmsley Walled Garden, which has developed into a beautiful and welcoming garden with a real emphasis on wellbeing, nature and the benefits of gardening.

Today, the garden is cared for by a small team of core staff, alongside a dedicated group of volunteers who help to maintain the five-acre site and keep Alison's vision alive.

I think this is one of the things that makes Helmsley Walled Garden feel a little different from other gardens in Yorkshire. Yes, it's beautiful, but there is a real sense of purpose behind it too. You're not just wandering around looking at pretty flower beds. There's a fascinating history and a lovely story behind how the garden came back to life.

What to See at Helmsley Walled Garden

One of the things I really loved about Helmsley Walled Garden was that it isn't just one big garden that you wander around once and then leave. The five-acre site is divided into lots of different areas, each with its own character, planting and little things to discover. The garden has a slightly unusual shape too. It's a south-facing, slightly parallelogram-shaped garden, which means it benefits from plenty of sunshine throughout the day. We definitely felt the benefit of this when we visited! We picked an absolutely glorious day, and the sunshine combined with all those flowers and beautiful views made it feel like we'd stumbled across a little sun trap in North Yorkshire.

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is one of the areas you'll find as you explore Helmsley Walled Garden. As the name suggests, it's a particularly peaceful little corner of the garden and somewhere I could have happily spent much longer simply wandering around.

The Clematis Garden

The Clematis Garden is another beautiful area to look out for, particularly if you love flowers and colourful planting.

The Physic Garden

The Physic Garden was another area we really enjoyed exploring. Historically, physic gardens were used for growing plants for medicinal purposes, and it's a lovely reminder that gardens have traditionally been about far more than simply growing pretty flowers. It's one of those areas where you can slow down and have a proper look at what's growing rather than simply walking past.

Colourful Borders and the Wildlife Pond

The borders running alongside the garden walls all have their own themes, which means there's plenty to look at as you make your way around. One of my favourites was the incredibly colourful iris border, which runs along the west-facing wall towards the wildlife pond. If you visit when the irises are flowering, it's particularly pretty and makes for some lovely photographs.

And then there are those beautiful old red-brick walls themselves. They're not simply there to enclose the garden either. Fruit trees have been cleverly trained against the walls, and we spotted apples and pears growing from branches that had been carefully guided along the brickwork. I love little details like this because they're easy to miss if you simply walk around looking at the biggest and brightest flowers.

The Community Growing Plots

I loved having a good look around the community growing plots. Call me old before my time, but I absolutely love having a gander at what other people are growing! There's something strangely satisfying about looking at rows of vegetables and seeing what people have managed to produce. It also ties in beautifully with the ethos behind Helmsley Walled Garden, with gardening being used as a way of bringing people together and supporting wellbeing.

I can't wait to have my own little growing plot at the bottom of the garden when we eventually move house, although I'm fairly certain my efforts won't be producing marrows quite as impressive as the ones at Helmsley Walled Garden!

More Areas to Explore

These are just a few of the areas you'll find at Helmsley Walled Garden. Helmsley Walled Garden is really good at creating different moods throughout the garden, so even though you're technically within the same walled garden, each section can feel quite different from the last.

You'll find a mixture of ornamental planting, productive growing areas, fruit trees, wildlife friendly spaces and quieter corners, so there's something to keep garden lovers interested even if you're not particularly green-fingered.

And if you're visiting with children, don't worry that you'll be dragging them around a garden looking at flowers for hours on end. There are other things to explore during a family visit, and I found that having lots of different areas to wander between made the garden feel much more interesting than a traditional flower garden.

Where to Eat at Helmsley Walled Garden

If you're wondering where to eat at Helmsley Walled Garden, you don't need to venture back into Helmsley for lunch. There's a lovely on-site cafe called the Vine House Cafe, making it a particularly handy option if you're visiting with children and don't want to pack everyone back into the car just as they're getting hungry.

Vine House Cafe at Helmsley Walled Garden

The setting of the Vine House Cafe is absolutely beautiful, and we were incredibly lucky with the weather when we visited. Sitting outside in the sunshine, surrounded by all the greenery and flowers, made lunch feel like part of the experience rather than simply stopping somewhere to eat.

The cafe serves a bistro-style menu, with an emphasis on seasonal and locally sourced produce, including ingredients grown in the community plots within the garden. I always think food tastes that little bit better when you can look out over the place where some of it has been grown!

We both opted for the open-top sandwiches, which came with a side salad and sauces. Everything we ate was delicious, although I will admit that I found the prices a little on the expensive side. Perhaps that's the Northerner in me coming out!

Naturally, I then completely contradicted myself by ordering a homemade chocolate brownie and a rather boujee elderflower mocktail. In my defence, both were absolutely worth it.

Is the Vine House Cafe Family Friendly?

The Vine House Cafe is a really useful option for families visiting Helmsley Walled Garden, particularly if you're planning to spend a few hours exploring the gardens.

Being able to stop for lunch, a drink or something sweet without having to leave the attraction is a real bonus when you're visiting with children. There's no need to worry about finding somewhere to eat in Helmsley halfway through your visit, and you can simply carry on exploring once everyone's fed and watered.

It's also a lovely place for adults to sit and enjoy the surroundings while the children have a little breather from exploring.

Is the Vine House Cafe Worth Visiting?

I'd certainly recommend giving the café a try if you're visiting Helmsley Walled Garden. Yes, I thought it was a little pricey, but the food we had was delicious and the setting really does add something to the experience.

The Vine House Cafe has also received recognition for its food and visitor experience, including being named a VisitEngland Visitor Experience Award winner in Yorkshire in the food and drink category. And having eaten there myself, I can certainly see why.

For me, the combination of good food, a beautiful setting and the convenience of having an on-site cafe makes it a particularly good addition to a family day out at Helmsley Walled Garden.

_{[The Vine House Cafe]}

How Much Time Do You Need In The gardens?

I'd probably say you'd need a good couple of hours in the gardens. This way you can enjoy a relaxed stroll around the different areas & take in everything the space has to offer.

If you're wanting to make a bit more of a day of it you could enjoy lunch in the Vine House Cafe or even pay a visit to Helmsley Castle which is a stones throw away from the gardens.

How Accessible Are The Gardens?

The gardens themselves are all on one level which is great for accessibility. I took the pram with us for my toddler although of course I needn't have bothered because she was barely in it, for wanting to explore the gardens. The gravel tracks are really easy to manoeuvre too which was great and definitely a weight off my shoulders being as heavily pregnant as I am.

I did have a slight issue in the Vine House Cafe where I was left to drop my pram down three steps to exit to our table. This was fine for me as the out'n'about pram we have is pretty robust however it unfortunately wouldn't work for a wheelchair user.

Is Helmsley Walled Garden Worth Visiting?

Yes! I absolutely would recommend Helmsley Walled Garden, particularly if you're looking for a family day out in North Yorkshire.

There's something really lovely about the garden that I think is easy to miss until you're actually there. It's beautiful, obviously, but it also feels incredibly peaceful. Even with the children in tow, we found it was one of those places where you can slow down for a while, wander around, look at what's growing and simply enjoy being outside together.

It's also a great option if you're looking for something a little different from the usual family attractions. There aren't flashing lights, noisy rides or a huge list of activities to keep everyone occupied. Instead, it's about exploring the different areas of the garden, spotting wildlife, looking at the flowers and enjoying the space. And honestly? Sometimes that's exactly what you need.

Is Helmsley Walled Garden Good for Families?

I think Helmsley Walled Garden makes a lovely family day out, particularly if you have children who enjoy being outdoors and exploring.

It's also somewhere that works well for different ages. Younger children can enjoy wandering around the garden and discovering all the different spaces, while older children can take a little more interest in the plants, wildlife and history of the garden.

And, of course, having the Vine House Cafe on site means you can break up your visit with lunch, cake or a drink. Because let's be honest, everything becomes considerably easier once everyone has been fed!

Have you been to Helmsley Walled Garden before? Do you have any other Yorkshire recommendations? Where's the best day out you've been on recently?