Iford Manor Gardens

About Iford Manor Gardens

From its origins in the wool industry, through Georgian gentrification, then Peto’s Edwardian structures, and right up to the present period, the passion of Iford’s inhabitants and its history are inextricably bound up in the Grade 1 listed garden’s unique design.

Today, Iford’s story continues to be written in this secluded corner of ‘Olde England’ with a new generation of owners taking the garden forward.

The structural design seen today was largely created by Harold Peto, who lived at Iford from 1899-1933. A man of exquisite taste, with a talent for placing objects sympathetically to their surroundings, he designed gardens for royalty and aristocracy around the world. His main patrons were the then Countess of Warwick and Isabella Stewart-Gardner.

Regularly featured in national and international publications, recently including English Garden, Country Life and The Telegraph.

Influenced mainly by his love of Roman, Italian and Japanese design, he was a promoter of the renaissance period and had a strong influence on the Arts and Crafts period. Striking the balance between formal and informal gardening, between soft planting and hard structure, Harold Peto’s work was appreciated in writings by Gertrude Jeykll and William Robinson.

During the past 55 years, today’s owners, the Cartwright-Hignett family, have lovingly restored the garden (once thought ‘lost’) and continued to develop it, finishing the Oriental Garden area, extending the woodland walks and redesigning areas of the garden as they age, 100 years after Peto’s original plantings. The present generation seeks to expand the gardens yet further, whilst refreshing the planting and preserving the heritage within the main garden itself. The gardens are overseen by Head Gardener Steve Lannin, formerly at Mapperton.

Steep, narrow paths twist and turn around ancient statues, columns, terraces and architecture which, combined with ebullient planting schemes, draw you on in anticipation of the next delight. After each step a new view is revealed, allowing visitors to marvel in the clever nature and beauty of the design.

Full of history and located on the last hill of the Cotswolds, with the Wiltshire/ Somerset border running through the garden itself, visitors often say a visit to Iford Manor Gardens was like stepping into another, timeless world.