Tintinhull Garden, located in

Tintinhull Tintinhull is a village and civil parish near Yeovil, south west of Ilchester, in Somerset, England. The village is close to the A303. It is on the Fosse Way. In addition to a school of around 100 pupils, Tintinhull has a church, park, swim ...

, near

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

in the English county of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, 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 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 ...

. It is visited by around 25,000 people per year. The house started as a small farmhouse in 1630 but was enlarged into its current form in the 18th century. The house was the property of the Napper family for centuries. It was given to the National Trust in 1954. The garden is similar in style to that at Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire, with several

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. It was originally laid out by Phyllis Reiss from 1933, and from 1979 to 1993 was in the charge of the garden writer and gardener

Penelope Hobhouse Penelope Hobhouse MBE (née Chichester-Clark; born 20 November 1929) is a British garden writer, designer, lecturer and television presenter. Early life Born into an Anglo-Irish family in Moyola Park, Castledawson, she is the daughter of Ja ...

House

The original farmhouse which forms the basis of the current Tintinhull House was built of

Hamstone Hamstone is a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material which weather dif ...

1630. It was reshaped and enlarged around 1722 when the west façade was added. The house was the property of the Napper family, who acquired the manor after the dissolution of the monasteries and also owned Tintinhull Court, and was passed down in the family until they sold it sometime after 1814. The Nappers let it to the Pitt family until the death of John Napper in 1791. It passed through several hands until 1835, when it was bought by Jeremiah Penny. In 1898 the then owner, Arthur Cobbett, added a single-storey extension to the east front before selling it to his tenant the botanist, Dr. S.J.M. Price. In 1933 it was bought by Phyllis Reiss and her husband, Capt. F.E. Reiss. The house includes several paintings from the National Trust's collection, including a painting of the front of the house by John S. Goodall. The house is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and can be booked for holiday lets from the National Trust.

Garden

The garden is laid out into areas separated by walls and hedges. The garden layout was developed in the early 20th century, by Dr. Price, including laying down triangular and diamond shaped flagstone paths. The ornamental domes of

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

were planted in the 1920s. The early landscaping was expanded and planted starting in 1933 by Phyllis Reiss in a " Hidcote" style. The garden is separated into "

s" by yew hedges and walls. The different areas include Eagle Court (the former courtyard), Middle Garden, Fountain Garden and Pool Garden. The pool garden is the site of a former tennis court. In 1954 Reiss gave the house and garden to the National Trust, but continued to live in the house and care for the garden until her death in 1961. From then on, the Trust let the house to a variety of tenants, including the

garden design Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of garden, gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expe ...

er and writer

and her husband Prof John Malins from 1980 to 1993. The gardens are included in the

National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...

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House

Garden

See also

References

Further reading

External links