Foster & Pearson glasshouse in the walled garden, The Weir Garden

The walled garden of The Weir estate, on the banks of the Wye, dates from the late eighteenth century according to the National Trust leaflet, and it has three walls rather than four. The Trust ties its siting to William Parry, who bought the mansion in 1788 and took advice from the landscape designer Humphry Repton; it considers it likely that Repton recommended placing the garden east of the park, with its own track. In the nineteenth century the Griffiths family relied on it to feed a large household, and the earliest known photographs of it were taken by Cecily, daughter of the Burneys, who rented the estate later.

The present glasshouse belongs to the Parr era. Roger Charlton Parr bought the house in 1923 and the rest of the estate four years later. With his head gardener William Boulter he set about restoring the walled garden, replacing the original glasshouse with a Foster & Pearson one heated by an expensive Beeston boiler, using, the Trust says, the same firm as the late Queen Victoria. Trust pages give the 1920s, its 2025 leaflet the late 1920s; one page says both "1920s" and "built in the 19th century", which the sources do not reconcile.

Parr died in 1958 and left the estate to the Trust. His friend Victor Morris lived in the mansion until 1985 and neglected the garden, which went untended for about fifty years. Restoration of the walled garden began in 2009, led by Trust staff and volunteers, with a first harvest in 2010. The glasshouse was restored thanks to donors; the Trust's main page still mentions conservation work in summer 2022.

The National Trust describes the structure as made by Foster & Pearson and originally heated by a Beeston boiler, and two local tourism sites give its length as 70 feet, about 21 m. It stands in a walled garden of unusual plan, with three walls instead of four so that, the leaflet explains, it makes the most of the sun as it crosses the floodplain.

A 2023 photograph published on Wikimedia Commons shows a glazed house leaning against a brick wall, resting on a brick plinth, with a white-painted frame, a glazed roof slope and a door at the end.

The Trust's history describes a three-part interior in Parr's time: tomatoes and cucumbers in the first section, a fig tree in the central part and hardy plants at the far end. Cucumbers hung from the roof while tomato plants grew in champagne boxes up canes. The Trust adds that the gardeners still plant to the same pattern today.

In Parr's day, according to the National Trust's history, the first section grew tomatoes and cucumbers, a fig tree filled the central part and hardy plants lined the far end. Another Trust page adds that, according to records, the house was used all year round for mushrooms, asparagus and rhubarb, forced over winter.

More recent descriptions differ by source and date: one Herefordshire tourism site speaks of fruit and vegetables, another of grapes, figs, tomatoes and succulents, and a May 2013 photograph posted on Geograph shows figs against the wall and banana plants near the middle.

In the walled garden itself the Trust combines fruit and vegetables with borders of perennials and herbs that draw pollinating insects. The harvest supplies the tea-rooms at the four National Trust places in Herefordshire and is also sold on site.

The walled garden lies a short walk from the main riverside garden above the Wye, and the National Trust lists the restored glasshouse among the estate's things to see, alongside the rockery and the rustic hut. The site stands on a steep bank; the Trust describes access as limited (slopes, steps, uneven ground).

The Trust suggests autumn for the walled garden, when it is full of seasonal produce. A parkland circuit of about 1.6 km (one mile) extends the visit with views over the Herefordshire countryside, and the riverside garden keeps Roman remains, among them an octagonal cistern. The garden closes every winter: check the dates on the Trust's website before setting out.