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England

An Ideal Garden .. Cothay Manor, England

Cothay Topiary/Walkway Photo © Alice Joyce

An ideal garden holds you in its embrace. Friends have heard me say that I left my heart in Somerset, a pastoral county in the South West of England known for its gardens – Tintinhull to Lytes Cary to Hestercombe & East Lambrook Manor. Yet, another Somerset held me in thrall with the romance of its garden rooms, sylvan meadows and bog garden: the lush landscape and splendid 15th century Medieval house of Cothay Manor. Fine topiary lends a formality to the landscape of Cothay Gardens, as do myriad vignettes revealed as you move from one perfectly composed garden room to the next.

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England

A Pastoral, Paradise Garden - Hestercombe

Hestercombe Rill Photo © Alice Joyce

Among the cognoscenti, most any conversation about garden touring in England will surely touch upon a visit to Hestercombe. Situated in the sublime countryside of Somerset’s Quantock Hills, Hestercombe covers some 50-acres, and demonstrates gardens spanning 3 epochs, including the Arts and Craft design partnership of Sir Edwin Lutyens and gardening doyenne, Gertrude Jekyll.

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England

Picturesque Gardens of Mapperton .. West Dorset

Mapperton Gardens, Lawn, Topiary Photo © Alice Joyce

The Dorset landscape of Mapperton House and Gardens is especially wondrous on a late-Spring or summertime ramble. Considered to be one of Britain’s outstanding manor houses, Mapperton is distinguished by a warm, honeyed Ham stone facade; hearkening to the Elizabethan era, the architecture was altered to a grander scale in the late 1600s. A highlight of the entrancing grounds is a formal Italianate garden constructed in the 1920s. Presently the family estate of the Earl and Countess of Sandwich, Mapperton gives rise to this Fountain Court of exquisite beauty.

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