Paradise Restored: Reuniting Hestercombe’s historic landscape

Attracting over 100,000 visitors a year, Hestercombe Gardens combines four complete period gardens spanning four centuries of garden design.

The NHMF grant has enabled the Hestercombe Gardens Trust to acquire land totalling 320-acres, reuniting the world-class, Grade I registered landscape, gardens and buildings for future generations.

The newly acquired land includes the site of a rare, early 17th-century water garden which it is planned to restore together with other historic features within the park. Planted to its original design, Hestercombe’s Formal Garden is considered the finest example of the famous collaboration between garden designer Gertrude Jekyll and architect Edwin Lutyens.

The purchase also allows for the possibility of extending the current contemporary art gallery in the house to include outside spaces for the display of art.