Cotswolds 18th century garden, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
The Garden dates from the mid 1700s and is being restored back to how it was in a painting dated 1748. As it registered as Grade II* on the List of Parks and Gardens, any work has to be carried out with the full approval of the statutory bodies responsible for the heritage in England. Any restoration and repairs of individual structure is done in a way sympathetic to the age of the Garden and where possible using traditional building materials - often whilst the use of local materials is desirable, it is not always possible.
The restoration of the Garden has allowed the Trust to retell the lost tale of this period of Garden design, when gardens were almost theatrical sets in which wealthy homeowners entertained their guests.
Being a semi natural environment, the garden is teeming with wildlife. Deer, badgers, rabbits abound.
Work in the woodland always leaves natural habitats, like woodpiles of both logs and brash making an ideal home for field birds and bugs. Tree clearance is always accompanied with at least one trunk left standing for woodpeckers and again bugs. Sheets of corrugated iron are placed out of sight for snakes to use as a home. A restored pond now houses a colony of Great Crested Newts.
The Red House has recently been sympathetically restored to enable a colony of Lesser Horseshoe bats to flourish. Bird, owl and bat boxes are used throughout the grounds.
A seasonal Nature Trail leaflet is provided for children to highlight both the flora and fauna they may see on their visit.
Community
There is an active Friends Organisation associated with Painswick Rococo Garden which runs social events and fund raising activities. Special deals are offered to the local village residents to encourage greater local participation.
We believe that part of our role is to make local residents aware of the importance of tourism to the local economy.
With more than 30% of our annual visitor numbers coming in the early spring there is a significant boost to the local visitor economy in a traditionally quiet period.
Our restaurant sells local food where available and we see local produce in the Gift Shop.
Sadly local rural communities are slowly dying throughout the country and Painswick itself was once a vibrant village with many shops which served the community. The village now promotes itself to visitors as a place to come and shop. Our marketing is shifting to the intrinsic beauty of the place and the presence of the Cotswold Way National Trail as being an important reason to visit the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Garden is actively involved in shifting this view. We work with local artists to promote a summer of Art Festivals. We promote our own walking trails based on the Garden and village.
We work with local accommodation providers and visitor attractions on joint promotions to encourage visitors to stay longer in an area and cut car usage. The Garden is also heavily involved with the Gloucestershire and Cotswold tourism organisations to work together to promote the landscape as a short break destination. We work very closely with the Cotswold Conservation Board in sustainable tourism.
Landscape
A Rococo Garden is certainly no ordinary garden and if you are expecting great swathes of planted colour then you may be disappointed! For gardens in the 18th century were about physical entertainment, walking through and soaking up the atmosphere of a contrived landscape. The garden was almost a theatrical set, with buildings and eye-catchers seemingly dotted randomly around. But their positioning was carefully planned to draw the eye along vistas, which often intersected, and make the garden appear much larger than it was.
Painswick is unique in being the only complete survivor from this short lived design period and the Trust is committed to complete the restoration and maintain the Garden to the highest standard to enable today’s visitor to understand a site of living history.
The Garden itself is ideally situated just off the Cotswold Way and is near Painswick Beacon, an iron age hill fort.
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