Stourhead
The Celebrated Landscape Garden and Palladian Mansion in Wiltshire, owned by the National Trust
On the banks of the River Stour near Mere in Wiltshire lies Stourhead. This beautiful estate includes the grand Palladian mansion of Stourhead House, the village of Stourton, landscape gardens, farms and woodlands.
The house was the home of the Stourton family for seven hundred years until they sold it to Henry Hoare I, son of a wealthy banker Sir Richard Hoare, in 1717. After the original house was demolished a new building was designed by Colen Campbell and built by Nathaniel Ireson between 1720 and 1724.
The Pope's Cabinet
Like all the grand families of the time, they were great collectors and one of the greatest treasures of Stourhead is the Pope's Cabinet - a jeweled cabinet that was built for a 16th-century pope which has been restored at a cost of £50,000 and is now on view to visitors. The cabinet, which is 13 feet (4m) tall and is made of marble, alabaster and semiprecious stones, resembles a baroque Roman church and was owned originally by Pope Sixtus V. This is just one of the beautiful heirlooms that are housed in this property.
In 1901 the house was gutted by fire. However, many of the heirlooms were saved and the house was re-built in a near identical style.
The last family member to own the property was Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare who gave Stourhead House to the National Trust in 1946 one year before his death. His sole heir, Captain “Harry” Henry Hoare of the Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry, had died of wounds received at the Battle of Mughar Ridge in 1917.
A short stroll from Stourhead House, lying in secluded privacy in the adjacent valley, is one of the finest landscape gardens in the world - an area that is often referred to as “Paradise”.
One of the Finest Landscape Gardens in the World
The gardens are magnificent and these were originally designed by Henry Hoare II (known as Henry the Magnificent) and laid out in the classical 18th century design set around a large lake. The inspiration for their creation was the painters Claude Lorrain, Poussin and Gaspar Dughet who painted the ideal Utopian views of Italian landscapes.
The gardens were designed to show off the family’s culture and wealth and like all grand estates there is a brick folly – King Alfred’s Tower; a 50 metre tall tower, designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1772. On another hill stands the Temple of Apollo and this provides a vantage point to survey the magnificent gardens with its collection of trees and exotic shrubs from all around the world.
Stourhead gardens change with the seasons – the colour and light enhance the vistas. One minute your eye may be captured by the Pantheon and then as the sun emerges it may light up the tulip tree on the island or illuminate the Temple of Apollo.
Just walking in this landscape gives peace to the soul. Henry Hoare II would feel proud of the effect that this inspirational garden has had on the generations that followed him and those who still appreciate his vision three centuries later.
Find out More
About the family that lived at Stourhead »
About the Ladies of the house »
The garden at Stourhead - one of the finest landscape gardens in the world »
Opening times and details »
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