Hestercombe
Covering 50 acres, Hestercombe is an unique opportunity to experience three centuries of garden design.
Start your journey in the 18th century with the Landscape Garden. Discover the Box Pond and the Pear Pond, the Great Cascade and numerous garden buildings including the Gothic Alcove, the Temple Arbour, the Mausoleum and the Witch House. Dr Langbourne, a friend of Bamfylde’s wrote: ‘O’er Bampfield’s wood, by various nature grac’d, / A witch presides! – but then that witch is TASTE.’
Explore the 20th century formal gardens near the house with their rills, terrace, roses and the Great Plat – a sunken parterre with geometric borders edged with stone. One side of the parterre is enclosed by a Pergola which links the Plat to the wider landscape and the breathtaking views over the Vale of Taunton Dean.
Don’t miss the Orangery. Designed by Edwin Lutyens it is one of the most beautiful garden buildings of the 19th century.
The newly discovered Water Garden which is situated in the Park cose to the entrance off the council road has only recently been discovered. It was thought to have been a duck decoy but research has shown it was created in 17th century probably by Richard Warre who inherited the estate in 1615.
Hestercombe is run by the Hestercombe Gardens Trust.
INFORMATION
Address: Taunton, Somerset, TA2 8LG View map Phone: 01823 413923 Length of visit: 2-3 hours
Dog friendly:
Yes
Cafe:
Yes
Car park:
Yes
House open:
Yes
House open - occasionally:
No
Family friendly:
Yes
Toilets:
Yes
Wheelchair - partly:
Yes
For information on opening times and to buy tickets: Click here
Hestercombe
The Plat at Hestercombe
