Labyrinths have gained great popularity in the last few years. Mysterious in their origins, found in all parts of the world from Crete to Utah, and once common in churches, they have resurfaced in the 21st century as a tool for spiritual focus and reflection.
The labyrinth at Ringsfield was made out of willow in 2008 from osiers grown in the grounds. It is used by both adults and children, groups and individuals.
You can find the labyrinth by the orchard on the way to the woods. It is the one part of the garden that receives the sun from sunrise to sunset, and in the summer the swallows congregate on the wires overhead and wheel and dive in celebration of the insect life.
One of the easiest ways to enter into the spirit of contemplation is within nature. Here the busyness of the world can be forgotten and the mind can turn inward. The quiet garden at Ringsfield is part of the Quiet Garden Trust, which provides peaceful places for people of all faiths to be able to sit and listen to the still small voices of their hearts.
The Ringsfield Quiet Garden is a small cloistered garden, accessible through the Chapel. A cool spot in summer, a sheltered haven in the colder months, it’s also planted with fragrant and inspirational flowers and in the centre is a pond for gazing into shadowy depths and/or pondering on perhaps the most famous spiritual flower of them all, the lotus or water lily. Over the walls tumble fragrant mock orange, honeysuckle and numerous roses. Madonna lilies and lady’s mantle and Mexican daisies flourish in midsummer, whilst wild flowers thread their ways through the garden rockery – herb Robert, herb bennet (a shortened form of Herb Benedict), hedge woundwort and creeping cinquefoil.
The chapel is a small intimate quiet space useful for small groups use or private reflection
There are a number of ways in which these facilities can be used: individually or in groups, for a few hours or a day, with input or without, as a quiet day, or a place for discussion or struggle with issues of the day. It may be possible to include a meal at certain times of the year. If you wish to use the grounds in this way please contact us.
The gardens are laid out in the formal style of the Victorian country house, with sloping lawns and tennis court, a greenhouse with figs, vines and passion fruit.
The gardens range from clipped lawns and a herb garden to ponds and dells. There are formal beds with English spring and summer favourites such as primroses, hollyhocks and lavender and an abundance of climbing plants that twine around the house and outlying walls. In the summer the air scented with honeysuckle, lilac and mock orange. One of the year’s highlights are the clambering roses in June. May isalso a key month in Ringsfield with many of the trees in flower – apple blossom, red and white horse chestnut, hawthorn and oak.
Whatever the season, fresh flowers both wild and cultivated, appear each week on all the hall and dining room tables. It’s one of the signatures of Ringsfield – nature everywhere you look.
Ringsfield Hall is also home to many species of wild flowers. Many of the common species of woodland and grassland flowers, as well as several of our more colourful “weeds” and herbs that appear everywhere they can! Highlights include the red campions in the woods and cow parsley in the Dell in May and the meadowland flowers among the long grasses of the hay and wild meadows in June.
There are several meadows around the house: wild flower, hay meadows and grass paddocks for the animals. The meadows form the principle part of the Nature Trail and allow everyone of all ages to wander or run free through wild grassland.
In the summer when the grass grows tall, the paths weave through a rich mix of buttercups, sorrel, flowering grasses, moon daisies and vetches. The hay meadows are cut in July and the hay is used to feed the goats and sheep during the winter.
For many years there has been a hermitage or poustinia in the grounds of Ringsfield Hall. In 2002 the Hermitage was rebuilt and greatly improved and we offer the opportunity to any one who wants to spend a day, a few days or longer in personal solitude and retreat.
The Hermitage has a single bedded room and separate small rooms for the toilet, and the kitchen for simple cooking. There is running water and electricity. It is very well insulated and so easy to keep warm.
It is situated in an almost secret clearing on the southern edge of a young wood so that it is secluded and yet gets plenty of sun. To the south it overlooks arable fields.
This is a single self-catering facility but two people may wish to use it for personal quiet days.. If you need more information before booking, please do not hesitate to ring on
We are not making a charge for the use of the Hermitage but would welcome donations for ‘Ringsfield Hall Trust’
There is a nature trail with a seasonal list of the wild flowers and flowering trees available for anyone who would like to take a walk on the wild side. This is a circular trail that runs through the whole territory of the gardens and grounds.
As well as the wild and garden flowers you can see in the vases and pots throughout the house, there is a nature table in the hallway.
Some of the flower shows last year were in a theme such as Great Burdock, Flowers of the Meadow, Flowers of the Quiet Garden and The Hedgerow Flowers of July.
Guests can also leave their own notes in the Nature Book, kept on the library desk.
(If you would like to see a more extensive map of the grounds, including the nature trail, wild flowers in season and key trees, please ask and go exploring!)
.Ringsfield is home to many trees: forest trees of the world, native hardwoods, as well as many ornamental and flowering shrubs. The two magnificent redwoods (Wellingtonia), planted when the house was built in 1887 tower on the front lawn whilst ancient oaks fringe the outside hedge. Limes and hazels greet the visitor as they enter the drive. White willows offer light-dappled shade. Most unusual amongst the world trees is the Deodar cedar from the Himalayas.
As well as many mature species there have also been many new trees planted in the last few years, including walnut, hornbeam, guelder rose, spindlewood, buckthorn and wild pear.
The most popular trees with the children however are perhaps the stout conker trees with their swing ropes in the adventure playground and the sturdy field maple which holds the tree house in its arms. But the trees are not just there for fun. Lessons also take place under the canopy of sycamore, oak and Scots’ pine and around log fires made from dead wood or broken branches. The trees also provide materials for building dens and other woodland activities for Earthkeepers, Bear Hunts, Forest Schools and general outdoor learning.
A map of all the different trees and when they flower and fruit is also available in the Library.
The grounds of Ringsfield cover several acres that include mature and newly planted woodland, hay and wildflower meadows, and gardens. . . all ripe for exploring, games and adventures.
In amongst the trees, flower beds and grassland, are the outbuildings – the chapel with its own secret quiet garden, the Hermitage tucked away beside the wheat fields in the corner of the new woods, the Art and Nature Barn, as well as other structures from the willow labyrinth to the straw bale building with its wood burner making it an ideal place for telling stories or for art work. Also, of course, all kinds of temporary dens and hideouts built by the children and a tree house aloft a field maple. Animals, such as sheep and goats, graze the surrounding pasture.
