
Hidcote Manor Garden is a garden in the United Kingdom, located at the village of
Hidcote Bartrim
Hidcote Bartrim is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ebrington, in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. The nearest town is Chipping Campden, which is approximately south-west from the village. The village is ...
, near
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th to the 17th centuries.
A wool trading centre in the Middle Ages, Chipp ...
,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
. It is one of the best-known and most influential
Arts and Crafts
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
gardens in Britain, with its linked "
garden room
In gardening, a garden room is a secluded and partly enclosed space within a garden that creates a room-like effect. Such spaces have been part of garden design for centuries. Generally they are regarded as different from terraces and patios just ...
s" of hedges, rare trees, shrubs and
herbaceous border
A herbaceous border is a collection of perennial herbaceous plants (plants that live for more than two years and are soft-stemmed and non-woody) arranged closely together, usually to create a dramatic effect through colour, shape or large scale. ...
s. Created by
Lawrence Johnston, it is owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
and is open to the public.
History
The Americans,
Lawrence Johnston and his mother, settled in Britain about 1900, and Lawrence immediately became a British citizen and fought in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
during the
Boer war
The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...
. In 1907 Johnston's mother, Mrs Gertrude Winthrop (she had re-married), purchased the Hidcote Manor Estate. It was situated in a part of Britain with strong connections to the then-burgeoning
Arts and Crafts movement
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America.
Initiat ...
and an Anglicized American artistic expatriate community centred nearby at
Broadway, Worcestershire
Broadway is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds, England, with a population of 2,540 at the 2011 census. It is in the far southeast of Worcestershire, close to the Gloucestershire border, midway between ...
.
Johnston soon became interested in turning the fields around the house into a
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
. In 1907 he began to lay out the key features of the garden. There are no records to show how many gardeners were employed, but they were directly managed by Lawrence. It was only in 1922, when the garden was essentially complete, that Frank Adams arrived at Hidcote from
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...
to act as head gardener.
The garden became a strong influence on the designer
Phyllis Reiss
Phyllis Emily Reiss born Phyllis Emily Lucas (3 3October 1886 – 1961) was a British garden designer noted for her work at her own Tintinhull Garden, and Montacute House.
Life
Reiss was born in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire. Her parents were Ed ...
who lived nearby in Dowdeswell Manor. She and her husband bought
Tintinhull Garden
Tintinhull Garden, located in Tintinhull, near Yeovil in the English county of Somerset, is a small (less than an acre) 20th century garden surrounding a 17th-century Grade I listed house. The property is in the ownership of the National Trust. ...
in Somerset in 1933 so that they could have their own gardens based on the Hidcote Manor style.
After World War II Johnston spent most of his time at
Jardin Serre de la Madone
Serre de la Madone (6 hectares) is a garden in France notable for its design and rare plantings. It is located at 74, Route de Gorbio, Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. It is open to the public (every day except Monda ...
, his garden in the south of France; and in 1947 he entrusted Hidcote to the National Trust.
The style of the garden has been widely imitated. In 2007 a temporary garden designed by
Chris Beardshaw
Christopher Paul Beardshaw (born 11 January 1969) is a British garden designer, plantsman, author, speaker, and broadcaster.
Background
Beardshaw was born and grew up in Broad Green, near Broadwas, Worcestershire. He was formally trained in ho ...
that drew inspiration from Johnson's Hidcote was constructed at the
Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show,Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural So ...
in London.
Character of Hidcote garden

Lawrence Johnston was influenced in creating his garden at Hidcote by the work of
Alfred Parsons and
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British Horticulture, horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Sta ...
, who were designing gardens of hardy plants contained within sequences of outdoor "
garden room
In gardening, a garden room is a secluded and partly enclosed space within a garden that creates a room-like effect. Such spaces have been part of garden design for centuries. Generally they are regarded as different from terraces and patios just ...
s". The theme was in the air:
Vita Sackville-West
Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer.
Sackville-West was a successful nov ...
and
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, writer, broadcaster and gardener. His wife was Vita Sackville-West.
Early life and education
Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the youngest son of dipl ...
's
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, at Sissinghurst in the Weald of Kent in England, was created by Vita Sackville-West, poet and writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. It is among the most famous gardens in England and is design ...
was laid out as a sequence of such spaces, without, it seems, direct connection with the reclusive and shy Major Johnston. Hidcote's outdoor "rooms" have various characters and themes, achieved by the use of box
hedge
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced (3 feet or closer) shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate ...
s,
hornbeam
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Common names
The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives ...
and
yew
Yew is a common name given to various species of trees.
It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus '' Taxus'':
* European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'')
* Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus ...
, and stone walls. These rooms, such as the 'White Garden' and '
Fuchsia
''Fuchsia'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees.
Almost 110 species of ''Fuchsia'' are recognized; the vast majority are native to South America, but a few occur north through Central America to Mex ...
Garden' are linked, some by vistas, and furnished with
topiaries. Some have ponds and
fountain
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect.
Fountains were o ...
s, and all are planted with flowers in bedding schemes. They surround the 17th century
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
, and there are a number of outhouses and a
kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
.
Johnston's care in selecting the best plants is reflected in the narrow-leaved lavender,
Lavandula angustifolia
''Lavandula angustifolia'', formerly ''L. officinalis'', is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean (Spain, France, Italy, Croatia etc.). Its common names include lavender, true lavender and English lavender (though ...
'Hidcote', in the
Penstemon
''Penstemon'' , the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 280 species of flowering plants native to North America from northern Canada to Central America. It is the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. As well as bein ...
'Hidcote Pink' and in the hybrid
Hypericum
''Hypericum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Hypericaceae (formerly considered a subfamily of Clusiaceae). The genus has a nearly worldwide distribution, missing only from tropical lowlands, deserts and polar re ...
'Hidcote Gold', acclaimed as the finest hardy
St John's Wort
''Hypericum perforatum'', commonly known as St. John's wort (sometimes perforate St. John's wort or common St. John's wort), is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae. It is a hairless, perennial herb with woody roots, yellow flowers ma ...
,
Alice Coats records.
[Coats, ''Garden Shrubs and Their Histories'' (1964) 1992, s.v. 'Hypericum']
See also
*
History of gardening
The early history of gardening is largely entangled with the history of agriculture, with gardens that were mainly ornamental generally the preserve of the elite until quite recent times. Smaller gardens generally had being a kitchen garden as ...
*
Kiftsgate Court Gardens
Kiftsgate Court Gardens is situated above the village of Mickleton in the county of Gloucestershire, England, in the far north of the county close to the county border with both Worcestershire and Warwickshire.
The gardens, famed for its roses ...
References
Further reading
* Clarke, E. (2009) ''Hidcote: the making of a garden''
*
*
* Whitsey, F. (2011) ''The Garden at Hidcote''
External links
Hidcote Manor Garden information at the National TrustPhotos of Hidcote Manor Garden and surrounding area on geograph.org.ukHidcote Manor on Topiary in the United Kingdom
{{Authority control
Gardens in Gloucestershire
National Trust properties in Gloucestershire
Tourist attractions in Gloucestershire