Hidcote Manor Gardens

Looking through my files I notice that I have not given any space here to Hidcote Manor Gardens which is something of an omission as they are some of the best gardens in the country. We last visited there in Autumn 2003, and these pictures date from then so that things may well have changed since that time.

The house was bought in 1907 by Mrs Gertrude Winthrop, mother of Major Lawrence Johnston who set about developing the surrounding estate into the gardens we see today. Gertrude Jekyll and the local "Arts and Crafts" movement had a considerable influence upon the way that the project developed. Johnston had been born in Paris, but came to England to study at Cambridge University, after which he took English nationality and joined the British army and served in the Boer War, hence his title of major. The house itself is a typical Cotswold manor house, but is not itself open to the pubic. It does however give a great backdrop to the surrounding gardens.

Most of the development of the gardens took place between 1910 and 1930 by which time there were 12 full time gardeners employed there. A huge range of plants was established there with the gardens being divided up into quite distinct rooms. Each room has a style of its own and often is restricted to a quite narrow colour range and even single plant types. The effect can be most dramatic. This room has a white predominately white theme.


There are too many individual plants of beauty to record them all, and this is but one of them.


Long borders give spectacular views, always co-ordinated and always begging closer inspection.


For more photos goto Smugmug - Hidcote Manor

and for more information National Trust - Hidcote Manor