Wyndcliffe Court

Wyndcliffe Court is an exceptional and unaltered garden by Henry Avray Tipping and Sir Eric Francis created in 1922 in the Arts & Crafts ‘Italianate’ style.

Henry Hastings Clay and his family, originally brewers from Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, moved to live in Piercefield House, Chepstow in 1861. In WWI, Piercefield was taken over by the armed forces and soon after the war, the house was abandoned. Charles Leigh Clay built Wyndcliffe Court in 1922. Eric Francis was the architect and Avray Tipping collaborated on the gardens. Charles Clay was a shipper in Cardiff and married Margaret Press from Yorkshire. The ‘Rose of Yorkshire’ and ‘Hops from the Brewery’ are used as the decoration of the plasterwork ceiling by Keebles in the ball room. The house was considered a great statement of hope and optimism after the horrors of the war and is described by Pevsner as “Cotswolds Jacobean, relaxed and sophisticated”. The house has now passed on to Anthony and Sarah Clay who continue to restore and develop the garden.

Features of the garden include a stone summerhouse, terracing and steps with a lily pond, a sunken garden, bowling green and woodland. The rose garden was redesigned by Sarah Price and planted in 2018. It has wonderful roses in June and July and an extended period of interest from April – October with bulbs and a large variety of shrubs, climbers and choice plants. The walled garden has fruit trees and a new Platinum Jubilee border of lavender and an Arbour with a large mural painted in the Renaissance style by Andrea Davies in 2023.

https://www.wyndcliffecourt.com/