Our Impact
How we are working towards a lighter tourism.
As a garden we are fortunate that much of what we do has a low impact on the environment and naturally benefits both our visitors and the community we sit in. Like all businesses we face challenges and regularly make choices about how we can work towards lower-impact tourism.
Peat-free, local & reusable
We are proud that our gardens are peat-free. Peatlands are the largest natural store of carbon on land, storing more than all the world's forests combined, and they hold it for thousands of years. Our compost is from local anaerobic digesters (just over the hill) made with waste from local farms. It is a wonderful source of nutrients for the gardens and doesn't have to travel far to get to us.
We use wood from the estate for our plant labels, supports and arches, and propagate from seed and cuttings in the most functional of our three historic Messenger Greenhouses, promoting perennials over the fast-fashion of bedding plants.
Companion planting, managing pests & changing climates
We are mindful of how we combine plants, particularly in the Ornamental Kitchen Gardens, where companion planting and pollinator-friendly choices do much of the work that chemicals would in a different kind of garden. The wide variety and large population of birds we attract play their part in natural pest management, and we always leave some fruit to keep that cycle going. The approach often sparks discussion between visitors and the gardeners.
We are also adapting how we plant in response to a changing climate. Across the walled gardens we are shifting towards drought-tolerant varieties to reduce watering, and in our driest, south-facing bed we are introducing more exotic species that wouldn't have grown here a few years ago, a small but visible way of showing how the climate is shifting.
Water Management
We are lucky to have the River Lugg running through the estate, and responsibility for how we treat it. The Lugg is designated both a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation, reflecting its importance for habitats and species. Water from the river feeds our canal, cascades, fountains and walk-behind waterfall before returning through a sunken pool.
That means how we look after our water system affects the river itself. We use no chemicals in the gardens, clear algae by hand rather than dosing the system, and have built escape routes into the water features so wildlife that finds its way in can find its way out. Our pump has a low-water cut-off so we stop drawing from the Lugg when the river is running low, which matters more every year as summers get drier. We don't introduce non-native species either, which is why you won't find goldfish in our ponds.
Low impact hospitality & operations
Most of our environmental footprint sits in the café and Visitor Centre rather than the gardens themselves, and that's where we've put most of our practical changes. Our café is run by Herefordshire-based ART Hospitality, who bake from scratch and even roast their own ham on site.
They have two main suppliers and some small local ones, trying to limit deliveries where possible. They also make the most of garden produce in summer months with seasonal specials. We have moved to LED lighting throughout, switched takeaway items to compostable and recyclable formats, and prioritise B Corp suppliers where available.
The Visitor Centre runs a paperless operation with everything run digitally. We're not pretending these add up to a transformed footprint, but small operational choices made consistently across a season add up.
Rooted in place
Hampton Gardens sits in the Herefordshire countryside, and we work hard to keep what we do tied to the people and businesses around us. The 2025/26 refurbishment of our Joseph Paxton-designed Orangery was carried out by local roofers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians, and our wider supplier list includes sign printers, network specialists and a local artist whose cards we sell in the Visitor Centre.
We support school visits with discounted rates and a regular events newsletter for teachers, because the gardens are at their best when local children get to grow up with them. We often get children joining garden tours, sometimes with aspirations of their own veg beds. Our gardens volunteer programme started in 2025 and is being expanded in 2026, focused on supporting John and the gardens team with planting, maintenance and the restoration work happening across the estate.
Our new community bookshop is opening this season, selling donated second-hand garden books from inside the Visitor Centre with proceeds going towards restoring our three historic Messenger Greenhouses. It's a small, slow source of funding, but the kind that connects visitors directly to a piece of the gardens' history we want to keep alive.
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