Hestercombe

They do say that you should never meet your heroes, well, in the form of a garden, I sort of met one of mine in the early spring of 2018. I'd always liked the sound of Gertrude Jekyll and Edward Lutyens and so when I had the chance to make a quick detour to Hestercombe on my way home from the Hardy Plants Lecture Day, I took it. I wasn't disappointed. It's not a huge garden by any means, but the attention to craftsmanship and form is wonderful. I was seeing it on a dullish day, early in the year when not a lot is going on in the garden, but the structure and shape and the way the formal garden is linked to the wider landscape was very instructive and quite inspirational. I was also fascinated to see how plants had been trained and pruned to different effect, particularly the low Wisteria and the roses taken around the large circular stone pillars - they must be quite a sight in the summer.