Highnam Court is a beautiful Victorian landscape garden. Originally laid out by the artist, Thomas Gambier Parry, the gardens have been lovingly restored by the current owner, Roger Head. The gardens are open on several days during the Spring and Summer through the National Garden Scheme.
In the Spring, there are thousands of daffodils and other spring bulbs and early hellebores.
During the Summer, enjoy the wildflower meadows, rose gardens, knot gardens, white garden and kitchen garden.
Don’t miss the Pulhamite Water Garden with grottoes and fernery.
There are also four lakes with over forty wood carvings and lots of places to sit.
Enjoy tea in the Orangery – which is also home to several rare air and carnivorous plants.
For further information and opening days, visit Highnam Court or the NGS website.
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Highnam Court was built in 1658 for William Cooke after the earlier medieval house was damaged during the English Civil War.
Following Cooke’s death in 1703, Highnam Court passed through his family before being inherited in the mid-18th century by Sir John Guise, 1st Baronet. Guise updated the interior of the house and landscaped the grounds. His son and successor Sir Berkeley William Guise made further alterations. Following his death in 1834, his brother, Sir John Wright Guise, was heir to the estate. He sold the estate four years later to the artist and art collector, Thomas Gambier Parry.
Parry commissioned James Pulham to lay out the extensive new gardens in the 1840s. He also employed the architect Lewis Vulliamy to renovate the house. Parry’s widow remained in the house until her death in 1896. It then passed to Parry’s son by his first wife, the composer Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry. The Parry family remained at Highnam until 1966.
The Gloucester businessman Roger Head bought Highnam Court in 1994, serving as High Sheriff in 2015–16. Recent improvements to the house include the construction of an orangery, an addition at the west side of the house, which was finished in 2001.
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