14 August 2006
On Helen’s birthday, we drive
to a National Trust property at Hidcote, near Chipping Campden.
Established and developed in the
first decades of the 20th Century, Hidcote Manor gardens are the creation
of Lawrence Johnston, a wealthy American born in France, whose mother, Mrs
Gertrude Winthrop, acquired Hidcote in 1907.
Johnston himself had studied at Cambridge University, following which he
obtained British nationality and served in the British Army in the Boer War and
the First World War, reaching the rank of major.
The
garden forms a series of ‘rooms’, each with its own character, and a number of
focal features, such as the huge Lebanese cedar, the bathing pool, the Theatre
Lawn and the Long Walk.
The
character of the different ‘rooms’ is achieved by the type and colour of the
plants, supported by topiary, natural features such as streams and trees, and
some garden buildings such as the twin gazebos and a thatched shelter. Many of the plants are rare in this country
and were imported by
The
garden was laid out, and is still maintained, as a place to walk and enjoy,
rather than as a horticultural museum.
Few of the plants are labelled, and they are allowed to grow naturally,
avoiding the heavily manicured appearance of some formal gardens.
|
The |
Under the
massive cedar at the end of the Old Garden |
|
Succulents
growing in the wall of the Alpine Terrace |
|
|
Resting in the
thatched shelter next to the Bathing Pool Garden |
In front of one
of the twin gazebos, tiled, presumably for use for refreshments during
outside entertainments |
|
The Red Borders,
leading up to the twin gazebos, which lie between the Long Walk and Theatre
Lawn |
Bees are kept in
the New Orchard |
More
about Hidcote Manor Garden