CASTLE HILL GARDENS
Castle Hill was built in 1730 as the Earl Fortescue£s family home in North Devon, The Palladian House, in which his descendant the Earl and Countess of Arran are living, is set in an 18th century parkland landscape with grass terraces and statues leading down to the river and lakes.
To the east side of the house is the Millennium Garden design by Xa Tollemache, the Chelsea Gold medallist. The large herbaceous borders are edged with box and lavender and an illuminated £topiary£ water sculpture was designed and built by Giles Rayner in 2002. From there the path takes you to the formal terraced lawns in front of the house where the eye is drawn across a small country road by a tree-lined avenue towards the Triumphal Arch built as an eye catcher.
Following the path to the west of the house, the woodland gardens are reached where there are camellias, magnolias, rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas, eucryphias planted in abundance together with many other beautiful shrubs and rare trees growing both by the river, along a network of woodland paths and in the Easter Close. Many of the paths, some gentle, some steep, are punctuated with follies, and temples built ~ by each generation of the Fortescue family. The final climb takes you to the Castle perched splendidly on the high hill behind the house with magnificent Views of Exmoor, Dartmoor and Lundy Island.
Opening from 21st March to 30th September.
11:00 am to 5pm
Admission prices : Adults £4.00, Children under 14 FREE, Senior Citizens £3.50
Website : www.castlehilldevon.co.uk