Rousham: Up the Garden Path
4 July 2004
Location:
Rousham, Oxfordshire, OS Explorer 191 (west)
I went to Rousham on the suggestion of the English Garden community at Live Journal. It really was just as good as they said. One of the best things was that children aren't allowed, so it was much more peaceful than your average stately home and garden on a summer weekend.
I went on a guided tour inside the house. That was definitely worth the price of admission for the background and colourful history of both the family, the house and the gardens. Then I poked around in the gardens. There is a lot to discover in all of them. Definitely worth taking a detour for.
Weather:
It had rained earlier but during my visit it was mostly just cloudy.
Instructions:
Click the thumbnails for a larger version. Some images also have a much larger version at 1024 by 768 pixels. You can download them one by one, by clicking on the wallpaper link next to the image. Alternatively you can download a zipped archive of all of them. The zipped archive includes instructions for making a screensaver of the images.
The first creature I met, was this handsome fellow. When you come to Rousham, you are directed through and arch under a building to park in the courtyard on the other side. Mr. Peacock here showed me the way. I was very happy that he didn't feel the urge to test the acoustics as I was respectfully following him through the arch.
And here is Rousham Manor itself. It's been in the same family since 1635. Sir Robert Dormer bought the property and then the Dormer line continued to live in it until 1741. At that time, it was inherited by a first cousin, named Sir Clement Cottrell. He took the Dormer name, creating the Cottrell Dormer "double barrel name."
The guide called this building the "Cow Temple". It's plain to see that the windows are blind. Apparently it had been used for livestock at some time. It's one of the many small Classical buildings in and around Rousham, intended to be seen on a circuit of the garden.
Another look at the Cow Temple, this time with the Visitor's Gate next to it visible. The gardens were laid out by William Kent, (1684 - 1748). If you recognise Kent's name now, you'll probably also know that he was a famous architect and garden designer even in his own time. The visitor's gate is there so that the public could admire his gardens without disturbing the privacy of the Dormer family. Rousham was a tourist destination as early as the eighteenth century.
Kent not only installed Classical follies, he also brought in Classical statuary, like this very angry swan.
This bust of Athena shows a lot more restraint.
In Kent's part of the garden, there was something new to discover around every bend -- a sculpture next to the path, a folly in the distance and so on. This is the Venus sculpture that has given name to part of Kent's woodland garden, the Vale of Venus.
Kent's philosophy about the natural landscape was that it could be beautiful if it was helped along a bit. He did that with the river Cherwell that we see here. The bridge is medieval but Kent made sure there was a path in the right place that allows you to discover it at the right time in his programme.
The river's edge is maintained so that the fecund growth doesn't choke the water. But plants such as comfrey, Symphytum officinale, are allowed to grow. Here a bumble bee is making the most of the situation.
Valerian, Valeriana officinals, also likes the damp soil of the gently meandering river bank. There was a swan family on the river. The cygnets were just little grey balls of down and the parents were understandably anxious to protect them so I didn't get a good picture.
And a view in the other direction. The little yellow dots are native water lilies. I'm not sure if they were the yellow water lily, Nuphar lutea or the lesser water lily, Nuphar pumila. Just to make things a bit harder, there are also hybrids between the two.
I managed to take a picture of linden flowers, something I've been trying unsuccessfully for years. Usually it's either too dark, the flowers are too high up or the contrast with the sky is too strong. But I nailed this one.
Here we are much closer to the house again. I liked the colour contrast between the lavender and the alstromerias.
In fact I liked it so much that I took a closer look at the combination. Yummy, don't you think? The rest of the page is mainly flowers and garden pictures.
On the other side of the house from all Kent's green and white serenity, are the Kitchen Gardens and the Walled Garden. This blue delphinium with a black bee is from the Kitchen Garden, which not only grows vegetables but also flowers for cutting. There's a lot more colour and excitement here than in the Woodland Garden.
Some orange colour and excitement in the shape of an alstromeria. They seemed to thrive here. I saw them in many different colours, all flowering their heads off.
A pink rose with water drops and a black, shiny bug. Like most roses at Rousham, it was wonderfully fragrant.
And some white roses in desperate need of deadheading. I debated with myself whether to include this picture or not. Ordinarily I prefer to show only beautiful things. But I honestly think this picture is beautiful, even if perhaps not as immediately accessible as the pink rose above. But there is a certain charm to decay, I think.
There was no doubt in my mind about including this somewhat abstract picture of blue sweet peas. I only wish I could show the smell too. Delectable!
Between the Kitchen Garden and the Walled Garden, was a formal orchard featuring a round pool with a simple fountain as its focal point. After the rather utilitarian atmosphere of the Kitchen Garden, I felt that the orchard was a bit oppressive and too regimented.
Then I came across this blue gate, beckoning me onwards to more exciting garden rooms.
Now we're talking! On the other side was a path running along a wall with borders on both sides, brimming over with colourful perennials in all shapes and sizes.
In one of the borders I found the bloody cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum. It really has shocking pink flowers. They showed up especially well in the overcast conditions of this day.
To me this picture is so very, very English. The pastel coloured perennials, the brick wall with a rose trained against it, and behind it all the venerable stone walls of an ancient manor. It really is quite lovely. I was coming to understand why I had been recommended a visit to Rousham.
The white and the pink flowers in the foreground are perennial ploxes. The taller lavender-coloured perennials are some sort of campanula.
But wait, there's more. Another path leads through the murky tunnel under a vine-clad pergola.
The yellow flowers on the left belong to a very hardy shrub. The common name is supposedly shrubby cinquefoil but I've never heard it called anything but potentilla. The Latin name is Potentilla fruticosa. I can also see several kinds of clematis growing on the pergola. The rose is probably "Wedding Day", a single, very vigorous rambler.
And through an arch in the wall.
The yellowish flowers flopping over the path on the left are scabious. I don't know what kind. Against the wall on the left hand side, there's a flowering yucca. On the right hand side of the arch, there's a white campanula. Probably Campanula lactiflora var. alba.
