History and Restoration
Hestercombe is a unique collection of three gardens spanning three centuries of garden history and design. All have undergone acclaimed restoration works, and today provide important examples of gardens in contrasting styles that continue to grow and develop.
Early Restoration - paradise restored
The Formal Gardens were very run down in 1973 when the Somerset County Council, with the support of the Fire Brigade, initiated what was to become one of the first major garden restorations in the country. Fortuitously, when restoration began some of Gertrude Jekyll's original planting plans were discovered in the potting shed at Hestercombe stuffed into a drawer where they had lain undisturbed for nearly seventy years.
Further research revealed a second set of plans located in the Reef Point Gardens collection of the University of California at Berkeley where they had been depositied by the American landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. The work to restore Jekyll's original planting was mainly carried out in the early years of the restoration but as more information becomes available it is further refined. For example, new research stimulated a major reassessment of the planting of the Great Plat and it was subsequently replanted in 1998.
In 1995 the Hestercombe Gardens Project started the restoration of the Landscape Garden. For the previous thirty years, it had been managed as a commercial forestry following the clear felling of the eighteen century parkland for its timber value in 1963. The lakes, which had become completely silted up, were dredged, removing over seventeen thousand tons of silt, the original views were opened once more and the remaining buildings restored.
In April 1997, the garden was reopened to the public for the first time in 125 years. Although the main features of the garden have been secured, the work of restoration is expected to continue for many years to come.
Visitors have the unique opportunity to follow the progress of the garden as it is returned to its full eighteenth century glory.
The Victorian Garden had been overlooked in the excitement of earlier restorations but as its importance, as part of the development of the gardens at Hestercombe, was realised, it has gradually been taken in hand.
In 1998 initial restoration of the Victorian Terrace was undertaken resulting in the repair of the fountain and the reinstatement of the formal bedding scheme.
In 1999 work commenced on the Victorian Shrubbery to the north of the house, centred on the existing yew tunnel. The aim was to recreate a shrubbery typical of the late 1870s, contemporary with the Victorian Terrace and the remodelling of the house. Unfortunately, no late nineteenth centry British shrubberies survive and its recreation will, therefore, make an important contribution to understanding this period of the garden development.
Many influences have been brought to bear on the design of the gardens at Hestercombe. The Landscape Garden is rooted in an eighteenth century taste for idealised classical landscapes that developed from studying the seventeenth century landscape paintings of Salvator Rosa, Gaspart Poussin and Claude Lorrain.
The intricate patterns of Victorian bedding schemes had their origins in the formal parterres of the 17th century. Inevitabley, there was a reaction against this 'unnatural' gardening fashion, particularly in the writings of plantsman, William Robinson, who popularised the notion of naturalised planting. In the Formal Garden, Lutyens fused Elizabethan style raised walks with pergola and wter features influenced by Italian and Moorish gardens - the whole set off by Jekyll's sophisticated Mediterranean palatte.
In 2003 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Hestercombe Gardens Trust a significant grant that initiated a five year development and restoration project confirming Hestercombe's national and international importance.
Further Heritage Lottery Funding together with a substancial award from Viridor has allowed major restoration on the 17th century Mill and Barn by the Mill Pond and Dutch Garden. Visit our Watermill page for additional information on this project.
The lay of the land...
The Georgian Landscape Garden which lies in the combe or valley to the north of the house was created between 1750 - 86 by the then owner of Hestercombe, Coplestone Warre Bampfylde. In 1992 local man, Philip White, re-discovered the Landscape Garden, and his vision of restoring what was a totally overgrown and derelict garden is now being realised.
Landscape gardens were designed to give the impression of an idealised classical landscape with lakes, temples and grottoes. Flowers play only a small part in their design which relies on trees and shrubs to create the right atmosphere.
Your journey around this Arcadia, set in over forty acres of woodland, provides surprises and variety at every turn. The eighteenth century garden style delights in changes of texture and mood and at regular intervals are placed 'seats', small buildings from which the visitor can enjoy a composed view in the style of a landscape painting, hence the name Landscape Garden.
The Victorian Terrace on the south side of the house was personally laid out by the first Viscount Portman between 1873 and 1878 when he was undertaking considerable remodelling of the house. today, as in Victorian time, the exuberant and colourful period style bedding scheme is changed twice a year.
The Edwardian Formal Garden was created by Sir Edwin Lutyens, probably the most famous British architect since Sir Christopher Wren, Lutyens also designed the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the British Embassy in Washington and the vast imperial city of New Delhi in India.
The planting scheme was designed by Gertrude Jekyll whose influence on garden planting has been enormous. Her use in borders of graduated colour and planting in drifts has dominated garden design throughout the last hundred years.
The Formal Garden, which was established between 1904-08, is considered the finest example of the work undertaken by this famous partnership.
Close by the Ticket Office is the Bat Roost where, using closed circuit television cameras, you can watch the rare Lesser Horseshoe bats. They come here in summer to have their young and in June and July the pups can sometimes be seen clinging to their mothers.
Take an opportunity to visit the old army Barrack Hut and read about the important part Hestercombe played in World War II.
In order to protect the gardens for the future, a charity, The Hestercombe Gardens Trust was set up. In 2003, with the support of a major Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the Trust took over the management of the whole site. The Hestercombe Gardens Trust is currently fundraising to restore the eighteenth century water mill as a working estate mill that will demonstrate sustainable energy sources past and present.
Hestercombe House - has the administration offices for Somerset County Council Young People's Directorate and Somerset Leisure Trust and is not open to the public.
Link to the official site of the Jekyll Trust: www.gertrudejekyll.co.uk
