Rousham House
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Overview
Since the 1630s, members of the same family have owned this imposing, almost fortress-like Jacobean mansion. Acquiring a nice bit of turf was all the rage (for rich people) on the eve of the English Civil War, and this plot on the curve on the River Cherwell hit the spot for staunch Royalist Sir Robert Dormer. The gardens, designed to complement the house and blend effortlessly into the Oxfordshire countryside, have changed little since landscape architect William Kent designed them a little more than a century later. As the only classical landscape gardens to have survived almost unaltered, they have acquired a unique place in the history of horticultural design. Charles Bridgeman, a royal gardener, laid down the original plan for the gardens in the 1720s. It was Kent, however, who created an Augustan landscape, with features that evoke not only the glories of Renaissance Italy but also the splendor of ancient Rome. Kent was a Yorkshireman who’d studied art in London and then moved to Italy and painted frescoes for ten years. He envisaged this Oxfordshire garden as a landscape painting, and his design for it used shape, form, light and shade to maximum effect. He used water from springs in the hill above to create cascades, rills and ornamental pools: simple features that formed romantic cameos within the classical framework. One curvaceous rill runs through a stone channel linking the Cold Bath and the so-called Venus’s Vale. Other rills, sparkling and light-catching, feed into ornamental pools, and a white-water cascade tumbles into a grotto. Photos: Harpur Garden Images
Features
- Opening Times
- Open all year
- Opening Times: Garden open all year, daily 10-4.30 (last entry). House, May-Sep for groups 12+ by arrangement
- Facilities
- Parking onsite
About the area
Located at the heart of England, Oxfordshire enjoys a rich heritage and varied scenery, with Oxford’s elegant streets a highlight for visitors. The landscape encompasses open chalk downland, picturesque rivers and attractive villages, while northwest of Oxfordshire is home to the sleepy backwaters of Abingdon, Wallingford, Wantage, Watlington and Witney that reveal how Oxfordshire’s old towns evolved over the centuries.
Places to eat nearby View all
Nearby places to stay
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Nearby places to stay
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The Woodstock Arms
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The Blenheim Buttery
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The Chesterton Hotel
Recent refurbishment has made the Chesterton Hotel an even more stylish place to stay. Set in a quiet village yet handy for the M40, Oxford and Bicester, it has an open-plan brasserie/b...
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