today I´d like to share some pictures I took of Hidcote Manor and Garden during my England vacation last week. The garden is situated in the Cotswolds and was the first garden taken over by the National Trust. It is know as one of the greatest and most inspiring gardens of all time. Due to its horticultural importance, the National Trust acquired Hidcote specifically for the garden alone. Hidcote Garden is famous for its unusual layout - the garden is divided into several garden rooms, and thus can never be seen in one view. Interestingly, although the garden was laid out by the American Lawrence Johnston, who was brought up in France, Hidcote Garden is by many seen as the archetypical English garden.
Lawrence Johnston came from a wealthy family background and his mother purchased Hidcote Manor in 1907 as she wanted her son to become a gentlemen farmer. However, Lawrence Johnston had another plan - he wanted to create a garden. Having had no previous garden experience, Lawrence Johnston borrowed books on horticulture from the library. Back then there were two opposing styles in gardening. One style focused on formality, the other style aimed to create a wild garden. Lawrence Johnston had the unique idea to combine these two styles to create a wild garden in a formal setting. He planted many hedges, which not only created structure, but also provided a shelter as the location of the garden was very much exposed from the climate.
Lawrence Johnston´s relationship to his mother has been described as difficult. His mother was loosing patience with her son´s gardening enthusiasm as it costed her a fortune. She felt that her son wasted all her money and she put Hidcote up for sale to stop her son´s spending. At the same time the first World War had broken out and Lawrence Johnston had to abandon his garden. He was severely injured during the war, leading to his mother´s change of heart to not sell Hidcote. After the war, Lawrence Johnston continued creating his garden at Hidcote Manor with the professional help of the gardener Frank Adams, who was employed by Lawrence Johnston in 1920 as head gardener.
I´d like to refer to following video about Hidcote Garden. I can really recommend it to all of you who would like to find out more about the history of Hidcote Garden. This is also the video I drew on to write this post on Hidcote Garden.
Hope you enjoy!
Lisa
