A NEW GARDEN THAT FEELS ANCIENT - 7TH JULY 2026
Words and pictures by DOminic WestoN
You can see the Westbury white horse from one of the terraces – so is this the best garden in Wiltshire? In fact, this series of gardens, terraces and parkland, hidden out of sight at the end of a long meandering drive, and opening to spectacular views, lies just inside the Somerset border, not far from Frome.
The NGS describes it thus:
“A hidden gem near the Somerset/Wilts border. With far-reaching views over the White Horse and Cley Hill lies a stunning Queen Anne House nestled in 76 acres of parkland. Ha-ha and woodland partially surround the formal gardens recently redesigned by Mark Lutyens and Catherine Fitzgerald to include an Italian inspired terrace, walled garden with tiki hut, tennis court, greenhouse and pool garden.”
And that doesn’t even begin to do it justice, either for the imagination or the sense of history centred on a 16th century courthouse that lies at the heart of the estate. In the early 18th century, a Queen Anne house was wrapped around it, and now, in the 21st century, a series of beautifully self-contained gardens – partly designed to keep the deer out – have wrapped themselves around the historic buildings.
Our guide for the sunny summer evening was Rose Monson, who explained that there were no gardens, other than some concrete surfaced yards, when they arrived in 2014. Everything we were walking through, which felt like it had evolved side by side with the buildings, was a new arrival.
One of Catherine Fitzgerald’s signature designs is the use of hedging to break up long borders, like horticultural buttresses supporting the walls. It adds structure to the garden, bridging architecture and planting, and creates a defined series of rooms along a stretch of garden that on other sites would probably have become just another herbaceous border – something I feel is overused and of limited interest now.
There is so much to see and enjoy here that I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking. But beyond the pleasure of exploring the gardens, there was the pleasure of spending time with Rose and her two dogs – her own, and very calm Clemmie, and her daughter’s recent and very sweet rescue.
She was a warm and generous host, who genuinely loved sharing her garden and her home with visitors. We were able to come inside too, to see how the ancient courthouse sat within the later additions – including a spectacular two-storey arched window, with a section of flying staircase crossing the hallway inside it.
This is the joy of visiting gardens with a group like
Shepton Hort Soc, rather than on general admission – you get time with the
owners, the people who are passionate and invested in what they’ve created, and
a sense of what makes it so special to them too.
If you do go and visit, it’s definitely worth taking the
short walk up the hill to the folly – the cherry on the top of a delicious
cake.
Links:
Standerwick Court Gardens NGS listing https://ngs.org.uk/
