About

Large C18/19 garden around lake with wide lawns and specimen trees, original layout by John Davenport, with C19 arboretum, and H. Avray Tipping influence. Visit the 1790 walled garden and the newly restored greenhouses.

This garden was originally laid out in about 1720 but greatly altered in 1790 in accordance with the picturesque principles then in vogue. The earlier canal was altered to form the pond, which is a surrounded by a winding grassy path. The kitchen garden wall also dates from 1790. There are a number of notable trees: a very old tulip tree Lipiodendrum tulipifera on the far side of the lake is one of the largest in the United Kingdom. There is a good cut-leaf beech nearby. A pair of ravens have nested on the top of the tall Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens half-way down the west side of the pond. The gravel path leads over a little bridge to the Perthyr Gate, an 18th century stone arch topped by a medieval floriated cross from Perthyr, near Monmouth. The gateway into the drive was designed by Nash in 1790, the same date as the Folly on the hill. The large cedar in front of the house is perhaps 220 years old.