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Musiewild's blog

~ An occasional blog, mainly photos

Musiewild's blog

Tag Archives: Edwin Lutyens

Hestercombe Gardens

10 Thursday Mar 2022

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, History, Photography, Plants

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Bampfylde, Bergenia Cordifolia, Edwin Lutyens, Elephant's Ears, Euphorbia, Gertrude Jekyll, Hestercombe, Hestercombe Gardens Trust, Taunton, Ukraine, Woman's Hour

It was chilly but bright last Saturday, so I took myself to Hestercombe Gardens, near Taunton. I hadn’t been for several years, and believed the actual house to be the property of Somerset County Council, but see from this history that, having been the headquarters of the Somerset Fire Brigade for over 60 years, it was sold in 2013 to the Hestercombe Gardens Trust, (itself created in 1986), for £1. Here is a 54-second aerial video of the entire estate, courtesy of the Trust.

I started with lunch in the café. I had to ask what an allegedly vegan dish, a seitan steak was, and was told it was made of pulses. I have to say, I nearly called the waitress after the first mouthful, to check I had been given the right meal, so like meat it was in taste, colour and texture. Too much indeed for comfort! Anyway, once home I looked up and found there are several different recipes, so seitan is not a trade name. Here is a whole article on the subject.

The formal gardens were designed by those celebrated collaborators Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. On past visits I have started with these, but this time I left them to last, bypassing the Victorian Shrubbery, and wandering through the landscaped areas first.

Top of the Daisy Steps, which lead down to the Formal Gardens
The edge of the Victorian Shrubbery
Looking back on the Shrubbery
Near the beginning of the Georgian Landscape Gardens, designed by Coplestone Warre Bampfylde in the 1760s
Mausoleum
Looking back
‘Rustic Seat’
The Great Cascade
Sibyl’s Temple

Beyond this point access was forbidden temporarily, because of damage done by Storm Eunice.

Looking down from Sibyl’s Temple to the Box Pond

From here I had a choice of turning left and returning the other side of the ponds, parallel to the path I had taken, or turning right and climbing up and a bit away from the water features. I chose the latter, not least because it was the sunny side.

Highest point, view from the Gothic Alcove
Taunton in the distance

At this point I failed to turn sufficiently rightwards and to take a diagonal path towards the lakes again. I blame a couple with a dog coming up a path worn in the grass, parallel to the fence. I assumed that was the correct way – I had not been up here before.

As the terrain I was on diverged increasingly from what the plan told me, I at last concluded that I was far too far over, so climbed a gate on the right to correct my route, and went past this pile of logs – which may or may not have been a feature of the recent storms. I had seen many sawn-off trunks in my wanderings, both where I should have been and where I shouldn’t.

I had also seen masses of daffodils, and took many, many more photos of them than this one.

Back where I should have been

Moving towards the orchard and the Garden of Remembrance.

Anyone at home?
Up to Lutyens’ and Jekyll’s Formal Gardens
The Pergola, early in March not at its best

I wondered why someone had left this flowerpot around. Looking more closely, I saw written on it, ‘WOBBLY STONE’.

Also not at its best at this time of year, ‘The Great Plat’ nevertheless was a mass of pink, the parterres filled with Bergenia Cordifolia, more commonly known as Elephant Ears, beginning to go over.

Columns topped by cheeky cherubs

Finally, I walked around the Victorian Terrace.

And I was ambushed in the plant sale on the way out, where I fell in love with this purple Euphorbia, and just had to have it. I’ve no idea where to plant it, but I shall find it a good home.

I left the car park at 4 o’clock, just as ‘Weekend Woman’s Hour’ came on the radio. It started with the very same story, broadcast the day before, of the little boy who wanted Mr Putin to become a good man…

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Snowdrop garden

10 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by Musiewild in Countryside views, Photography, Plants, Wildlife

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Blackdown Hills, Edwin Lutyens, Gertrude Jekyll, Hestercombe, Higher Yarde Farm, NSPCC, Quantocks, Snowdrop, Somerset Wildlife Trust, Staplegrove, Taunton

Snowdrop garden.  For two days, Friday and Saturday, the owners of Higher Yarde Farm, Staplegrove, near Taunton, are opening their wonderful early spring garden to visitors, in support of the Somerset Wildlife Trust.  Last weekend they did the same for the NSPCC.

There had been many visitors before me, despite a typical temperature of around 2°C, but as the last to arrive I had the large garden to myself, and almost missed the tea and cake on offer at the end.   I wondered whether the delightful building I had seen in the grounds was a holiday let, and learned that it was.  If I lived further away, I would be very tempted to use this as a base to explore the Quantock Hills and the Blackdown Hills, not to mention the wonderful Edwardian Hestercombe Gardens by Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll just a few miles away.

I’d never seen so many snowdrops in one place before, but just as enjoyable were all the other signs of spring on its way, in this garden clearly designed not only to please the human eye, but to be as friendly as possible to wildlife.p1250700001p1250702001Ap1250704001A little bridge soon tempts you off to the right…p1250705001p1250706001p1250708001p1250711001…towards a pond.p1250712001p1250718001p1250725001p1250727001p1250721001Onward to some glades and woodland.p1250730001p1250733001p1250735001p1250736001p1250739001p1250741001p1250745001p1250747001p1250754001p1250756001

 

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The sun came out for a few minutes

p1250764001

I think this may be a hedgehog shelter

p1250766001Then another bridge leads you on towards the house, and tea and cake (so much choice).p1250767001p1250769001p1250776001p1250780001p1250782001p1250788001p1250789001p1250791001p1250795001p1250800001This is the converted barn holiday let.p1250802001

 

p1250801001And back down the snowdrop-lined drive.

I have a third outdoor visit for this week tomorrow…

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