Beningbrough Shortlisted for Heritage and Culture Award

Our Mediterranean Garden at the National Trust’s Beningbrough has been selected as a finalist in the Landscape Institute Awards 2026, in the Excellence in Heritage and Culture category.

The annual Landscape Institute Awards celebrate projects, practices and people setting standards for landscape and placemaking in the UK and internationally. Beningbrough: The Mediterranean Garden is one of three finalists shortlisted for this year’s Excellence in Heritage and Culture Award.

Designed by Andy Sturgeon Design for the National Trust, the Mediterranean Garden forms part of a long-term vision to enhance Beningbrough’s historic designed landscape in North Yorkshire. The project has transformed a previously underused area, creating a distinctive contemporary garden while improving accessibility and biodiversity.

A new chapter in an evolving landscape

Beningbrough Hall was built in 1716 and its landscape has undergone numerous transformations during the centuries since. Research into the site has identified earlier formal gardens, paths and landscaping features, as well as a historic ornamental pond and later fountain. Rather than returning the garden to one particular point in its history, the new design continues this tradition of evolution and reinvention.

Historic maps show an ornamental pond in the nineteenth century and a fountain by 1910. Our new design interprets this history through a copper rill, reflective pool and sculptural water bowls, adding sound, movement and habitat to the garden. Locally sourced Yorkstone was selected to connect the contemporary garden with the wider Beningbrough landscape.

 

Planting for a changing climate

 

The garden’s character comes from an extensive, textural planting scheme designed around plants capable of thriving in hotter, drier conditions. Although Mediterranean in character, the palette reaches considerably further, incorporating plants originating from South Africa, South Korea, Chile, China and Australia as part of a scheme that has increased biodiversity within the previously underused area.

Sustainability measures are integrated into the landscape. Rainfall is stored in a stormwater tank for irrigation and to help reduce the impact of flash flooding, while additional drainage follows the contours of the site. Locally sourced Yorkstone and free-draining soils are also central to the design.

 

Accessibility was equally important. Wide, level routes thread through the planting and wheelchair-friendly stepping stones allow visitors to cross the water feature and experience the garden rather than simply viewing it from its perimeter.

The result is a garden that brings together Beningbrough’s historic landscape and architecture with contemporary design and planting – respecting the character of the place while adding another layer to its continuing story.

We are delighted that the project has been recognised by the Landscape Institute and look forward to the awards ceremony in November.