Woolly says – With the sun having left and the days going back to being grey, drizzly and wet we had had to cancel our day out due to torrential rain, luckily the next day appeared far more conducive. Having circumnavigated through the busy roads of Gloucester we arrived at Painswick Rococo Gardens.
Painswick Rococo Garden is the country’s sole surviving complete rococo garden. It was designed and laid out in the 1740s as a fanciful pleasure garden at Painswick House by Benjamin Hyett, a wealthy Gloucester landowner. However, fashions moved on, and it soon became overgrown and forgotten. It was only in the 1980s that it was rediscovered after historians saw a painting of the house and gardens. After a major restoration, it was opened to the public in 1988. In 1748 the garden was painted by Thomas Robins, and it is thought that the landscape and many of its buildings may have been designed by him. In 1984 historians Timothy Mowl and Roger White saw the painting by Thomas Robins of the Rococo Garden in an exhibition of his work. They then wrote an article about it for our journal Garden History. which inspired the owners, Lord and Lady Dickinson, to restore it.
Having paid our entrance fees we followed the pathway towards the garden, rounding a small bend we were faced with the wonderful view of the garden below us.
Heading along the track we arrived at the Red House, a most impressive building, a Grade II* garden pavilion with ogee-headed openings. The windows and doorway were incredible. Having waited for a large tour group to move on I climbed up the steep steps whilst Jo led Barking Boy further round and up the slope to peek inside.
Inside was small with two rooms one of which contained a fireplace, both had wonderful stained glass windows with window seats, inscribed with Latin inscriptions from the Song of Soloman. It would make a perfect homestead for me and bestie Sion, just the right size and set in a beautiful location.
Following the path down we arrived at the main planted area with over half being dedicated as a kitchen garden with the rest sporting some wonderful lilac, pinks and creams in the flowering beds.
Standing proudly at the top of the gardens was Exedra, a white-painted wooden screen with gothic arches, surmounted with battlements and pinnacles.
Passing the Doric Seat we followed the path to the Plunge pool, the cold bath was an important part of the 18th century health regimes being kept at a constant 12 degrees, none of us felt the need to test it out.
A few more paces took us to the Swan pool, no swans around which is good as they tend to hiss at Alfie the Dog and he doesn’t like that. The pond although small was wonderfully shaded in areas.
Next to it was a small building known as the Rams House from which water had once been pumped up to Painswick House, if you look very carefully you can just make out the equipment that is still inside.
A tunnel of willow lead across the garden’s ad having run up and down it a few times we headed into the woods.
Lots of wooden statues and carvings were to be found as we wandered slowly along.
Possibly the most impressive was that of a tall tree stump that had what looked like Harry Potter’s castle perched on top.
The path led us through the bluebell wood, sadly we were to late for bluebells, but we did see a lovely carved owl perched high in a tree.
The winding path took us through the woods before arriving at a building known as the Gothic Alcove, small and perfectly formed, on the back of the pillars we could see the historic graffiti left by the American GI’s who were stationed in the park during the Second World War. I wondered if Jack the boxer had gone home and if living he still remembered his time there.
We sat for a while enjoying the peace and lovely surroundings before heading upwards, passing more wooden sculptures on route.
As the path got steeper the poor mutt got slower to a point where snails were passing us at speed, with several stops for Alfie to pause we finally made it to an impressive red building which was reminiscent of Portmeirion in Wales.
Known as the Eagle House, no one is sure as to why it is called the Eagle House, but rumour has it that an eagle had once been housed there. The lower level had a seating area flanked on either side by two arched display areas where urns might have once stood.
The second level was freshly decorated with lovely arched windows giving us views across the valley.
Just across the path were the Chinese Gates which had once been the main entrance to the park from Painswick House, I stared through the gates to see but sadly the house was behind lots of vegetation and not viewable to the public.
The final part of the route was lined on one side by a wonderful array of planting which in the coming weeks would become a riot of colour. For us there were daisy’s and pretty yellow and pink delicate blooms to admire before taking a final look over the whole of the gardens.
With Alfie the Dog needing a sit down we found a table at the small onsite café and much to everyone’s delight particularly the mutts they had doggy ice cream, as he tucked into his carton, Jo and I enjoyed the homemade cake and hot drinks as we warmed our hands and paws.