A few weeks ago I visited Warren House on Coombe Hill, Kingston and last weekend I was able to see the water gardens that used to belong to the house but which are now part of an exclusive development of flats.
Coombe Nursery, from whom the land was bought, was famous for its many rare specimens of flowering trees and shrubs, most notably magnolias, azaleas and acers, and for its Japanese Water Garden which was apparently inspired by the well-known “Willow Pattern” plate design.
The garden has a maze of paths that link and circle the many ponds, cross bridges over little streams, wind their way up the hill to the source of the water and pass through thickets of exotic trees and bushes.
It is not a particularly large garden (well, it is a lot larger than mine but a lot smaller than a country estate garden like, say, Stourhead) but the many twisting paths mean that a small horde of us could descend on it and not get in each other's way and it always felt small, cosy and private.
I know roughly where it is and that there are some very impressive houses. This Japanese garden looks absolutely stunning!
ReplyDeleteHi Matthew, hope you don't mind me using a copy of this beautiful image in my new blog on the history of Coombe, appropriately referenced to your page of course. Rhiannon :-)
ReplyDeleteNot at all. I look forward to reading it.
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