Hanham Court Gardens

Not so far away from the madding crowds of Bristol and Bath lies Hanham Court. Hidden away down a narrow, winding lane is an unexpectedly rural manor. Hanham Court certainly has a fascinating history which goes back to the time of the Norman Conquest. In the 1300s it was the Abbot’s House of Keynsham Abbey. The Tithe barn is believed to have been added in the 15th century and one of the four monastic fishponds survives.

Despite the house’s long history, the gardens are altogether more recent. In 1993, RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winners Julian and Isabel Bannerman moved to Hanham Court from Wiltshire with their family and began the huge job of restoring the house and gardens. Before they arrived there really was no garden – just the main lawn in a wilderness of shrubs and brambles, stretching from one side of the estate to the other and right up to the edge of the ivy clad house.

Julian and Isabel are renowned for their deeply romantic and classically elegant designs. It is no wonder then that Hanham Court was awarded ‘No. 1 Dreamy Garden in Britain’ by Gardens Illustrated magazine in 2011. The formal garden has luscious borders of old roses, tree peonies, lilies and fountains. An amazing ‘Dancing Crown’ fountain is in the woodland garden which has a stream, pools, snowdrops, tree ferns, magnolias and temples. Beyond the walls lies a miniature park; a downland of wild flower meadows overlooking the River Avon and an orchard.

The Bannermans left Hanham Court in 2012 but the current owners, Richard and Julia Boissevain, are passionate about the gardens, and delightfully they are still willing to open the garden by appointment.

https://www.hanhamcourtgardens.com/