Stourhead

Partly because we wanted to show Jo something truly beautiful and partly because we hadn’t yet been ourselves, on a rainy Saturday morning, we headed out to visit Stourhead, which has often been referred to as ‘Paradise’. With raincoats and wellington boots we prepared for the worst but were in luck with the weather holding out for the duration of our visit – although it was very cold.

We had heard plenty of praise for the gardens of Stourhead, the achivement of Henry Hoare II, laid out between 1741 and 1780, but the reality was something else.

Hoare had requested the River Stour be dammed to form a great lake. Around the lake he laid out a landscape garden to entrance his guests with stunning views and pacify them (not sure what sort of guests he had) with serene walking pleasure. As the garden developed, he added classical features, such as the Temple of Flora, the Pantheon, the Temple of Apollo and Gothic ruins to enhance the series of splendid and unexpected vistas. Hoare’s successors cherished his brilliant original conception, while enriching it with new planting. Today, Stourhead is essentially the same as Henry II’s vision – a self-contained and timeless masterpiece.

The gardens are definitely on our list of places worth visiting frequently as the colours change with the seasons. It was about a 2 mile walk around the lake with breathtaking views at every turn. We were thankful we had brought along our private photographer as our little camera just would not have done it justice – also made taking the odd family shot that much simpler.

"Odd" Family Picture!

We stopped at the estate village shop/pub for coffee and ice creams before heading up to explore the house itself.

Stourhead was created in the 18th century by the banking family of Hoare. Sir Richard Hoare was the son of a successful horse dealer, and apprentice in a goldsmith firm. By 1672, he was in business on his own, and in 1673 he took over his master’s firm. Its income was used to found Hoare’s Bank, which has flourished ever since. In 1717, Henry Hoare I bought the old Stourton family estate and manor house. Stourton Manor was demolished to make way for Henry’s new home, one of the first country houses to be built in the new Palladian style. He named it ‘Stourhead’. Henry died in 1725 when the House was just completed. The house and grounds were passed down through successive generations until Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare gave the house to the National Trust in 1946.

The standout of the house for me was the study with book lined walls in abundance. What was also nice were the family photos dotted throughout so that you could really appreciate that this was, and still is, a family home.