Mount Stuart Gardens Team supports No Mow May
This May, our Gardens Team is leading the way in supporting local wildlife by taking part in No Mow May. Throughout the month, Kerrycroy Village and the Kitchen Garden Orchard will be left unmown, allowing nature to flourish during a critical time of year.
No Mow May is an initiative that encourages gardeners and land managers to pause mowing in spring. This simple change allows grasses and wild plants to flower, providing essential nectar and pollen for pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
Our Gardens Team carefully balances the preservation of our historic gardens with environmentally responsible practices. While our gardens are often maintained to a high level of formality, they are also dynamic ecosystems. Temporarily reducing mowing is a deliberate, science-informed approach to increasing habitat diversity and ecological resilience.
In the Kitchen Garden Orchard, we'll also sow wildflower seeds, encouraging a greater diversity of insects and wildlife. During this period, these areas may look less formal than usual, which is all part of the process. We invite visitors to take a closer look, spot pollinators at work, and experience the gardens as living, evolving environments.
Head of Rural Operations, Katie Warden, explains “Taking part in No Mow May is a simple but powerful way to support biodiversity. By allowing these spaces to grow naturally for a short period, we’re creating vital habitats at a time when pollinators need them most. It’s about working with the landscape rather than against it, while still respecting the historic character of the gardens.”