Garden wedding venueTranquil setting, with a wild streak
Two gardens by two celebrated designers, and the backdrop to every wedding here.
If the plants could talk
The stories they'd tell
The gardens were made on the site of the old, partly walled farmyard. The livestock left long ago. These days it's wedding guests who run a little wild. People have called the courtyard garden "somewhere between heaven and earth", and the name stuck.
The courtyard garden
By Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf is a leading figure in the new perennial movement. His courtyard garden here, made with the late John Coke, is a naturalistic affair: ornamental grasses and unusual hardy perennials, loose and full of movement. It looks different every month of the year.
The front garden
By Christopher Bradley-Hole
Christopher Bradley-Hole is a leading minimalist landscape designer. His front garden is the more regimented of the two: a grid of beds edged in rusted steel, with gravel paths, around a pond and pavilion. Swathes of tall grasses mixed with flowering perennials give it a meadow feel, like walking through a dream.
Who looks after them
Andrew, our head gardener
Andrew has looked after the gardens and the estate for many years, and he keeps developing them. He even manages to stop us pulling up important plants we think are weeds.
On your wedding day
Vows, drinks and photographs
Marry in the ceremony garden, gather for drinks in the courtyards, and slip away for photographs in the long evening light. On your day, the gardens are for you and your guests only.
Visiting
Come for a potter
On non-event days the gardens are open for peaceful pottering. They can close for private hire, so please check before you set out. The Hop Kiln Café stays open for refreshments, Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 4pm.
Through the seasons
