Tag Archive | Stourhead

The progress of autumn at Stourhead

The Pantheon at Stourhead underwent a restoration programme last year, and at the end of the project a webcam was placed on the roof, overlooking the lake. It takes an image every 15 minutes. A timelapse film of the advance of autumn was made available by the National Trust yesterday:

and more recent time lapse videos and a live feed can be seen on the homepage of the webcam company.

This is what Stourhead looks like right now:

Stourhead, 11.42 am, Thursday 22 October 2015.

And three days later:

Stourhead, 11.00 am, Sunday 25 October 2015.

and three days later again:

Stourhead, 9.00 am, Wednesday 28 October 2015.

UPDATE Wednesday 28 October: Don’t forget to listen to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme at 5 pm this afternoon – Alan Power, the Head Gardener at Stourhead, will be giving his annual impressions on autumn at Stourhead. Here’s last year’s lyrical offering. Last year Chap and I made our autumn colours visit to Stourhead on 28 October. We haven’t been this year yet – we’d better get a wiggle on. The katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) in our garden has already shed about half its leaves, and as we’re only about 10 miles from Stourhead I imagine progress there is similarly advanced.

UPDATE 2: Here’s Alan Power’s 2015 contribution to PM: piece starts at 50:25.

Stourhead in May

May20

Yesterday Chap and I took a day off work and spent the day at Stourhead with Elizabeth, a family friend of old, and her friend Sue. The day started gloomily, with dark lowering clouds and heavy rain showers. But we were so lucky: the sun came out and the rain held off, although the impressive clouds remained. Sue hadn’t visited Stourhead before, so it was a joy seeing her delight at meeting this stunning garden for the first time.

I’ll let the photos do the talking. Click on any to embiggen/bigify:

Stourhead: The Palladian Bridge and in the background, the Pantheon.

Stourhead: The view from the Temple of Apollo. The colours are so zingy at this time of year, and the rhododendrons and azaleas were looking amazing.

Stourhead: The Temple of Apollo. The lake is off to the left of shot.

Stourhead: The Temple of Flora, the Palladian Bridge and the Bristol Cross photographed from outside the Pantheon.

Stourhead: Inside the Pantheon.

Stourhead: The deliberately wonky, shonky windows of the Gothic Cottage.

A memory board within the Gothic Cottage.

Stourhead: The memory board within the Gothic Cottage.

Stourhead: A lovely note pinned on the memory board. Ah, huge congratulations to Ben and Vicki.

Stourhead: Naughty Grace!

Stourhead: View across the lake to the Temple of Apollo.

Stourhead: Gaudy rhododendrons and azaleas among the acers and other trees.

Stourhead: View from outside the Temple of Flora to the Pantheon.

Stourhead: The Palladian Bridge from the Temple of Flora.

Stourhead: Big skies over the lake and the Pantheon.

Cottages and the National Trust estate office at the village of Stourton, just outside the Stourhead landscape gardens.

And this is the view from just by those cottages: the Bristol Cross, the Palladian Bridge and the Pantheon.

Stourton Church, viewed from the same spot as the previous photograph.

Stourhead: National Trust gardeners training some young fruit trees in the walled kitchen gardens. Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ popping up between lavender within box hedges in the foreground.

Stourhead: The restored glasshouse with the beautiful collection of species and variety pelargoniums.

A wonderful bee, insect and other critter hotel made out of pallets, old terracotta roof tiles and ridge tiles and bamboo, among other things.

Stourhead: A wonderful bee, insect and small critter hotel made out of pallets, old terracotta roof tiles, ridge tiles and drainage pipes with bamboo, among other things, against a wall in the walled garden.

Rosa banksiae 'Lutea' growing against an outbuilding. Gorgeous.

Stourhead; Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ with its tiny yellow pompom flowers growing against an outbuilding. Gorgeous.

And watching the Chelsea Flower Show coverage on the Beeb yesterday evening after our return, what do I hear but architecture critic and broadcaster Tom Dyckhoff say this:

‘In fact, I would go so far as to say that the greatest contribution that Britain has made to worldwide design has been the landscape garden and its relationship to architecture. I mean particularly from the classic periods, the late 18th century, that kind of period of picturesque garden design, places like Stourhead. That was arguably our greatest design moment, certainly our greatest contribution.’

(edited slightly to remove ‘you knows’ and ‘like’s)

I couldn’t agree more. And we are so lucky to live so close and to be able to visit its wonders frequently.

National Trust visitor information for Stourhead.

Stourhead’s autumn colours

Oct28

Chap and I headed out to Stourhead this morning to get a fix of autumn colours. The gardens open at 9 and we got there at about 9.30, and there were already plenty of people there. Unsurprisingly most of them seemed to be taking photos.

We did our usual circuit walk around the lake, anticlockwise this time. The colours are pretty good this year but I wonder if the best is still to come.

Stourhead. The Palladian bridge in the foreground and the Pantheon on the other side of the lake.

The Temple of Apollo.

View across the lake to the Temple of Flora.

The Pantheon, newly reopened after restoration works this summer. Look at the red of that acer – it gives that lady’s coat a run for its money!

Beautiful Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) on the island in the lake.

Beautiful tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) on one of the islands in the lake.

The river god, representing the River Stour, in his grotto.

Looking back at **8 through the grotto. Love the pebble floor!

Looking back at the river god through the grotto. Love the pebble floor! To the right in this view is the sleeping nymph.

The sleeping nymph in the grotto.

The Bristol Cross, the Palladian bridge and over on the other side of the lake, the Pantheon.

On the drive home from Stourhead, just to the south of the estate: fantastic little estate smallholding, with outbuildings for livestock. We could see geese, ducks and guinea fowl!

On the drive home from Stourhead, just to the south of the gardens en route to the wonderfully named village of Gasper: a fantastic little estate smallholding, with outbuildings for livestock. We could see geese, ducks and guinea fowl!

The autumn colours are still developing. Alan Power, the Head Gardener at Stourhead, gives updates on his Twitter feed, as well as tweeting some amazing photos (he’s definitely got a better camera and waaaaaay more skill than me!).

On it I found out that in August this year the gardens at Stourhead were Google mapped: soon you’ll be able to take a virtual walk around the estate, courtesy of Google and this young man!

And I have to include this photo that I found on Alan’s twitter feed: it’s the most stunning view of Stourhead, taken by James Aldred in May this year from one of the taller trees on the estate:

Stourhead. Stunning photo by James Aldred in May 2014, showing the Temple of Apollo on its heights, and the Palladian bridge in the foreground.

Update on Friday 31 October: I have just heard Alan Power on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, doing his annual description of the gardens, interviewed by the wonderful Eddie Mair. Alan has such a poetic way of describing the gardens, and his horticultural contributions are rightly a favourite part of PM’s annual cycle. He was recorded this afternoon, chatting for about 8 minutes on the programme, with the full 11½ minute interview available here. It’s well worth a listen: he clearly adores his job, the gardens, the plants and the people who visit, gaining pleasure from their pleasure, and he has a great eye for detail and a passion to share his delight in these fabulous gardens. A few lyrical snippets:

‘Trees in full autumnal song’

‘Early last week we had some wind come through the country … and on its way it undressed some of the trees’

‘On the island there’s a tulip tree that’s been rattled by the wind a little bit and its internal branches have no leaves left and it’s just haloed with a golden yellow’

‘And there’s architecture in the plants as well … looking across to the trees in the distance and there are some poplar trees and some birch trees by the grotto at Stourhead and they’re, they’re bolt upright you could describe them as, so their stems are really striking from a distance, really grey stems and they’re almost the same colour as the columns on top of the Pantheon, so you’ve got architecture within the soft planting and you’ve got the harder architecture of the eighteenth-century temples.’

‘The leaves have been falling gently and they haven’t been frightened by the frosts.’

Alan has been talking to PM about the autumn colours at Stourhead for six years now, and it’s just a delight.

Filming locations: Stourhead

Oct9

We are so lucky to live close to the beautiful landscape gardens of Stourhead, near Mere in south-western Wiltshire. Chap and I visit often, and we are about due another visit to see the gorgeous autumn colours there.

Stourhead. The Palladian Bridge in the foreground and the Pantheon on the other side of the lake. Photo by Inglenookery.

Stourhead. The Palladian Bridge in the foreground and the Pantheon on the other side of the lake. Photo taken April 2011 by Inglenookery.

The house at Stourhead was built by Henry Hoare between 1721—1725, and the gardens were developed soon afterwards. They were brought into greatness in the mid-eighteenth century by Hoare’s son Henry Hoare II, with the damming of the small River Stour to form the lake, the building of the various temples, planting of the trees and development of the landscape features.

Stourhead Estate is managed by the National Trust. The charity’s properties are often used for filming, especially for period pieces (I’ve previously written about Montacute House, Mompesson House and Saltram House).

View from the Pantheon looking across the lake to the Palladian Bridhge and . The tTemple of apollo is on the high ground to the right of the photo. Photo April 2011 by Infgelnookery.

Stourhead. View from the Pantheon looking across the lake to the bridge and the Temple of Flora. The Temple of Apollo is on the high ground to the right of the photo. Photo taken April 2011 by Inglenookery.

Stourhead is more famous for its gardens than its associated Palladian mansion, and I am always surprised at how little it has been used as a location for filming. Part of the reason might be that it is one of the Trust’s most popular properties, with the gardens open every day apart from Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Even though it has many visitors every day, the gardens are so large that they rarely feel crowded. In 2012—2013 it was the most visited NT property for which a charge is made, with 356,023 visitors (other open country sites in NT ownership, such as Avebury or the Coastal Paths, are free to visit and so counts of visitor numbers are not easily available.)

Stourhead. View of the lake from the Temple of Apollo. Taken by Inglenookery

Stourhead. View of the lake from the Temple of Apollo. Photo taken September 2013 by Inglenookery.

I can only think of it appearing in two films: the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, in the scene when Mr Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) first proposes to Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley), filmed in the rain at the Temple of Apollo, and the brief scene with Elizabeth running across the five-arched bridge over the lake; and the scene in Barry Lyndon, the 1975 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, where Barry (Ryan O’Neal) talks to his mother (Marie Kean) on the bridge, with the lake and the Pantheon in the background in some shots, and the Temple of Flora in the background in another. There must be others, I’m sure—I just can’t think of any.

Stourhead. The Temple of Apollo starring in Pride and Prejudice (2005).

The bridge at the lake at Storuhead, satrring in

Stourhead: the bridge at the lake, starring in Pride and Prejudice (2005).

Stourhead in a scene from Barry Lyndon: the bridge with the Pantheon in the background (1975).

Barry Lyndon (Ryan O’Neal) with his mother (Marie Kean) on the bridge at Stourhead, with the Temple of Flora in the background.

Barry Lyndon (Ryan O’Neal) on the bridge at Stourhead.

We we very lucky when we visited in September last year—the Festival of the Voice was taking place, and it was magical to hear unaccompanied choral works drifting in the air as we walked around the garden. We stopped at the Pantheon to listen to this (apologies for it being filmed sideways on. I have no idea a) how to film or b) how to edit …)

Short National Trust history of the house and gardens.