Teamwork

An early twentieth century collaboration between Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edward Lutyens lead to the restoration of the formal gardens of Hestercombe. The plantings in of the Great Plat are atributed to Jekyll while Lutyens' detailed stonework provides the hardscaped structure of the garden. Also seen here are the Victorian Terrace and the Orangery.










Hestercombe garden was one of Gertrude's commissions with Lutyens. In 1904-8 he designed new gardens to the south of the house providing the detailed layout and she supplied the planting plans, enhancing, enriching and complementing his 'hard' landscaping and his intended views.

The principal feature is the Great Plat, a large, sunken garden with stone quadrant steps at each corner leading down into the garden. Geometric-shaped panels of lawn enclosed by stone flags extend diagonally across the garden from each corner, meeting at a central sundial. Beds are planted with gladioli and delphiniums. On either side of the lawns are stone-lined rills with three pairs of small circular pools planted around with white calla lilies. The pools are of varied depths to accommodate different water plant species. The rills discharge down small stepped cascades into tanks adorned with erigeron.

A pergola planted with roses and clematis encloses the south side of the Great Plat. It contains a stone-flagged walk and gives views north across the gardens to the house, and over the park to the countryside. - English Heritage website






















For your trivia file - Gertrude Jekyll was born at 2 Grafton Street, Mayfair, London, the fifth of the seven children of Captain Edward Joseph Hill Jekyll, an officer in the Grenadier Guards, and his wife Julia Hammersley. Her younger brother, the Reverend Walter Jekyll, was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who borrowed the family name for his famous novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.