Visit Hestercombe
These historic gardens in Somerset are a rich reminder of the work of plantswoman Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edwin Lutyens
These historic gardens in Somerset are a rich reminder of the work of Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edwin Lutyens
Nestling in Somerset’s Quantock Hills, Hestercombe Gardens is a remarkable place that showcases three centuries of garden design. It’s one of the best examples of the partnership between architect and landscape designer Sir Edwin Lutyens and renowned plantswoman Gertrude Jekyll. To give you some idea of its historic importance, the Grade II-listed house is set in 50 acres of Grade-I listed parkland, which includes a Victorian shrubbery, a Georgian landscape and formal Edwardian gardens created by Lutyens and Jekyll between 1904 and 1907. It’s hard to believe that by the mid-20th century, Hestercombe’s fortunes were on the decline. During the Second World War the house was requisitioned for use by the army, then in 1944, in lieu of death duties, ownership passed to the Crown, with Somerset Council using the house as an emergency call centre for its fire brigade until 2012. By the time Hestercombe Gardens Trust was established in 1996 the gardens had
“What can be seen today is the result of years of painstaking restoration”
“Lutyens’ sense of formality, combined with Jekyll’s painterly approach, came to define the English garden”
become neglected, the lakes had silted up, buildings were in disrepair and parts of the park had been used for commercial forestry. What we see today is the result of years of painstaking restoration. The historical significance of Hestercombe has driven a sympathetic restoration. Maps, photographs, written documents and planting plans have all been consulted; some of Jekyll’s original designs were discovered in a drawer in a shed. Where possible the exact plant species have been used and where these couldn’t be sourced, the closest matches were planted instead. It’s an ongoing process, with borders constantly being refined as new information comes to light. Lutyens was known for his attention to detail. In particular he showed great mastery of landscape materials when designing steps, pools, walls, rills and buildings such as orangeries, all of which can be seen at Hestercombe. This sense of formality, combined with Jekyll’s painterly approach to planting, her use of colour and her informal planting schemes produced a partnership that would come to define the English garden. Hestercombe starts to awaken in late spring. Iris ensata blooms in the rills and the sunken garden sees the first flowers of fluffy pink peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, electric blue delphiniums and orange tiger lilies. The Victorian shrubbery has been enhanced with plants and ideas inspired by garden writer William Robinson, a good friend of Jekyll’s, so that it now comes alive in late spring with blossom from amelanchier, olearia and exorchorda. Throughout the garden, the dainty daisy flowers of Erigeron karvinskianus, which Jekyll often used to soften hard landscaping, appear in cracks and crevices. Walls are clothed in sun-loving perennials, such as santolina, and fragrant climbers including wisteria. Grey-leaved plants and blue, white and mauve flowers start to appear in the Grey Walk borders. A flat parterre known as the Dutch Garden combines bold structural plants such as yuccas with the soft leaves of stachys, the loose mounds of catmint
and lots of lavender ‘Munstead’, named after Jekyll’s home in Surrey. The Pergola, with its alternating round and square stone pillars, runs the width of the formal garden, forming a see-through boundary. Climbing roses, clematis, Virginia creeper and vines scramble over it creating summer shade. Beyond it lies the landscape garden designed by Coplestone Warre Bampfylde in the mid-18th century to look as though it were a landscape painting, with follies and statues, a grand cascade – a remarkably realistic manmade waterfall – and secret wooded valleys, which at this time of year are buzzing with the sights and sounds of early summer.