Westbury Court Gardens, Gloucestershire

By: Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett

 Westbury Court Gardens, Gloucestershire

Recorded for BBC Radio Gloucestershire - Tom Lowe's Saturday Breakfast Show
Westbury Court Garden is a rare survival of a Dutch Water Garden, a style of garden that became fashionable for the well-to-do during the reign of King William III (1650 - 1702)

A group of Cheltenham Wives organised an outing to Westbury-on-Severn to see the gardens. We were shown around by the enthusiastic head gardener who told us about the manor houses that were alongside the gardens here - sadly none of them survive.

By 1959 a developer had bought the estate, intending to fill in the canals, demolish the gardens and build 10 houses on the site. Fortunately the local council intervened. They purchased the garden and gave it to the care and protection of the National Trust in 1967. This became the Trust's first garden restoration, and they set about re establishing the planting schemes that would have been right for a 17th century Dutch style garden.

My photograph shows the view looking north from the tall pavilion. The pavilion had got so dilapidated that the National Trust had to demolish and rebuild it using the evidence of the foundations, and the picture of it in a Johannes Kip's engraving.

Although the pavilion was expensive to rebuild. It greatly enhances the garden, as the canal and geometric shapes of the hedging are best seen from above.

June and early July are probably the best times to visit the garden as they have the largest tulip tree in the country and it was starting to flower, so the head gardener took us across to see it. Nearby we saw an ancient holm oak tree planted in the 17th century and the largest on record.

Westbury is 9 miles south west of Gloucester on the A48

For group guided coach tours email: anne@tourandexplore.com or for general excursions contact Marchants coaches on 01242 257714