Historic Kilnwick Percy Hall is a stunning Grade 2* listed building set within 47 acres of grounds with woodland walks, parkland and a lake. It is located just outside Pocklington, near York.
The Hall has been the home to Madhyamaka Kadampa Meditation Centre for 30 years and is a relaxing place of peace and tranquility to rest and reflect.
Everyone is welcome to visit Kilnwick Percy Hall and the grounds are open every day dawn – dusk for you to enjoy. You are also able to visit the World Peace Cafe, Gift Shop and Wolds Retreat bed and breakfast. You can also come on a Guided House Tour to find out more about the history of the Hall. Free entry and parking.
History of Kilnwick Percy Hall
In 1574 Thomas Wood, a member of the East Yorkshire gentry, began building an Elizabethan Hall at Kilnwick. The Hall remained incomplete for over 100 years. In 1720 the Hall was completed by Sir Edmund Anderson, a collector, particularly of musical instruments. During 1790 the estate was bought by Denison Esq and six years later he began building the present hall in front of the Tudor house. It took ten years to finish.
During the second world war the army took over Kilnwick Percy Hall, sorting service mail and engaging in training. Following this period, two-thirds of the building was demolished and became a family home until it was purchased by Madhyamaka Buddhist Centre.
Grounds
The man-made six-acre lake is a beautiful feature of the wider parkland surrounding Kilnwick Percy Hall, landscaped in the 18th Century.
Restored in 2011 following a drain collapse which left the lake empty for months, this once again beautiful feature is the perfect addition to the parkland and woodlands of the Hall. Follow the circular walk around the lake and enjoy for yourself the relaxing surroundings this beautiful site has to offer.
The site is also home to the beautiful St Helen’s Church which served Kilnwick Percy. The church is not currently open to the public.
Woodland
There are beautiful woodland walks, in the spring the whole area is carpeted in wild garlic and bluebells.
Walled Garden
The walled garden features two ornamental ponds and orchards.
Garden Project
The gardens here at Kilnwick Percy Hall, to which we enjoy welcoming visitors, require quite a lot of time and work, all done by residents or volunteers.
If you have been visiting us regularly over the last couple of years you may have noticed occasional gardening working parties, under the guidance of our dear friend and professional craftsman gardener, Ian Clayton.
With their aid we’ve been able to improve the areas immediately around the centre with the removal of perennial weeds, the addition of some new plants, fresh compost, some organic feed and a generous layer of wood chip to keep the weeds at bay, and regular grass cutting. Trees, shrubs and hedges have been gathered in and are being managed to enhance their value and beauty.
Further afield, we have begun a programme of work around the lake which will dramatically enhance the views across the rest of the estate whilst also improving the value of the habitat for wildlife and people. We have been carefully removing overgrown trees and shrubs, many of which have been coppiced in the traditional way and will recover to form billowing clouds of fresh green growth that will weave their way along the banks. The paths have been resurfaced and we are creating some open areas close to the water’s edge where you can sit quietly and enjoy the space and fresh air. Later in the spring we will introduce more water plants to bring colour and structure to the margins of the water and provide more habitat for the many different species of insects and birds that live in and around the lake. Later on this year we will be adding spring bulbs and more trees and shrubs to further improve and enhance the whole ecosystem.
Our biggest challenge of all is to renovate and restore our Walled Garden which has slipped into something of a slumber in recent years and is now looking a little tired and weary. Work started in March with the removal of some of overgrown shrubs and the first stages of careful management of those that will be incorporated into the new scheme. The first beds have been weeded and dressed with bark chip to buy us some time whilst we decide upon the plants that will be needed to breathe new life into the old walls. The project is much bigger than just a superficial makeover though. We intend to repair the worn paths, re-invigorate our historic yew hedges with a programme of dramatic pruning work (this has also been started already) that will see them recover with deeper, greener growth and a better shape. The ponds will be re-imagined. The old orchard trees will be recovered where possible or replaced and the rough grass underneath will be carefully converted into species-rich wildflower meadow. The new planting scheme will be simple and low maintenance but will still be beautiful and valuable for wildlife.
All of our work is done by a wonderful team of residents and volunteers and is reliant upon the kindness of everyone who donates whatever they can to the project in terms of time, money and plants. We have garden work parties that run at regular intervals during the year and we are always grateful of extra pairs of hands.
If you would like to get involved with our work, or make a donation of money or plants then please get in touch with us at info@madhyamaka.org, make a donation via the donate button to be found on each page of the website (please make a note that your donation is for the garden project in the description), or via our donation box in the Madhyamaka KMC main reception area.
