In late March on a chilly day, under a blanket of stone grey cloud, the grand old house is drained of colour. Audley End is a remnant of a much larger palatial country house, a so-called ‘prodigy’ house built at the start of the 17th Century by a courtier to James I, who cooked the…
Tag: Walled garden
Forde Abbey
Forde Abbey is lost in a wooded valley on the borders of Dorset, Somerset and Devon. The Cistercian Abbey dates back to the 11th Century. Today, it is less of a place of worship and more of a grand country house and well-tended garden with a patchwork of artificial lakes. Beyond the gardens there is…
Stourhead
The landscaped gardens at Stourhead are a sort of pastiche Greek paradise comprising of a dammed lake surrounded by an assortment of stone structures including temples, pantheon, Palladian bridge and, for good measure, a Gothic cottage. The homage is set within a narrow valley planted with tall, exotic trees. Above the valley, there is a…
Penshurst Place
Penshurst Place is one the finest manor houses in England; it sits in the heart of the Weald at the confluence of the Rivers Medway and Eden, surrounded by wooded hills and ridges. On a fine autumn day, the house and the grounds look like something out of an 18th or 19th century painting.
Sissinghurst on Leap Day
The last day of February brings more squalls from the west with intervals of piercing blue sky and pristine spring sunshine. The castle garden is subdued with the plants starting to grow but needing a run of warmer, gentler days; white magnolias are bursting; the crocus, iris, squill and summer snowflake are out; and a…