HESTERCOMBE 

 

 

 These restored gardens near Taunton

span centuries of garden design from

Tudor and Georgian to Edwardian.

Helen Morgan reports:            

 

 

 

The house was originally built in the late 16th century with a water garden constructed shortly after. Two centuries later Coplestone Warre Bampfylde inherited the house with its 50 acres. He designed a Georgian landscape containing lakes, combes, a grand cascade, gothic alcove, Tuscan temple arbour and woodlands. A Victorian shrubbery and terrace was added in 1873. The most recent section is an Edwardian Formal Garden designed in 1903 by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and plantswoman Gertrude Jekyll. The result is a garden “remarkable for the bold, concise pattern of its layout”. The minute attention to detail  can be seen in the variety and imaginative handling of contrasting materials, whether cobble, tile, flint, or thinly coursed local stone. Sir Lutyens’s architectural hallmarks are everywhere: iris-choked rills, pergolas, seats, relieved staircases and pools where reflections twinkle on recessed apses. Jekyll’s planting is bold and simple. It is said that she was one of the most influential horticulturists of the past 200 years. Her work helped to define the English garden as an art form appreciative of colour, plant correlation and informal, ever-changing structures. The collaboration between Lutyens and Jekyll became the Edwardian symbol of good taste, Arts & Crafts and the epitome of excellence. Architectural and planting expertise worked together to produce aesthetic and horticultural compositions.  Although few survive in their original state their influence is still felt in countless gardens. The "Great Plat" (pictured) combines the formally patterned features of a parterre with the hardy herbaceous planting favoured by Jekyll. Lutyens also designed the orangery about 50 metres east of the main house between 1904 and 1909. This is now Grade I listed, as are the garden walls, paving and steps on the south front of the house. On either side of the Great Plat are raised terraces with brick water channels. In his 2018 BBC series Paradise Gardens, Monty Don suggested that the garden had many features of the traditional Islamic Paradise Garden. The eastern area is laid out as a Dutch garden. It comprises perennial plants such as large white flowering Yucca gloriosa in groups used as vertical elements. These alternate with purple coloured flowering dwarf Lavender, catmint or silvery coloured Zieste, Cotton lavender, China Rose or Fuchsia.

The history society visit to Hestercombe on July 16th is part of the summer programme. Lectures resume in September. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Image: © Jason Ingram