***************************************************************** * Gardens-Guide.com * 250,000 UNIQUE VISITORS in 2011 * 2,000 garden pages viewed per day from March to September 2011 * * 1,000+ Page Views! - One-Quarter of all gardens listed on Gardens-Guide.com * were EACH viewed more than 1,000 times in 2011. * * 500+ Page Views! - HALF of all gardens listed on Gardens-Guide.com were * EACH viewed more than 500 times in 2011. * ***************************************************************** *** UPDATE FORM *** The Courts 1) Please COPY the entire FORM BELOW 2) Make any changes in BRIGHT RED -OR- mark changed Section Headers with: *** 3) email the ENTIRE FORM UPDATED backto us: wd (at) armchair-travel (dot) com **************************************************************** **************************************************************** **************************************************************** *** also - SEARCH ENGINE BOOSTING for both YOU and Gardens-Guide.com *** If your webmaster could place a link from your own website directly to your page on Gardens-Guide.com, this will improve it's rankings in Google and other search engines. Please use the following format and info on your own site to link to your page in Gardens-Guide.com: at Gardens-Guide.com http://www.gardens-guide.com The premiere directory of open gardens in the UK and Ireland today Ask your friends and suppliers as well to link to your page in Gardens-Guide as well. Every link we get into your page helps rankings for both of us in search engines. **************************************************************** **************************************************************** **************************************************************** Garden Name: The Courts Last Modified: 19-01-2011 Garden ID: 0291 pic: 0291_CourtsHolt.jpg NOTE: If this says "missing", then please send us a picture for your page which is at least 1000 x 1000 pixels in size. Thanks! Owner: National Trust Address: Holt Trowbridge Postcode: BA14 6RR County: Wiltshire tel: 01225 782875 fax: website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-thecourtsgarden email: courtsgarden //at// nationaltrust.org.uk English Heritage Grade: II Opening Times: NOTE for 2012: Please check with garden owners or their website to confirm current dates open http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-thecourtsgarden 12th Feb - 6th Mar; Sat & Sun; 11am - 5.30pm 12th Mar - 30th Oct; Thurs - Tues; 11am - 5.30pm Out of season by appointment only. Last admission 30mins before closing Best Times of Year to Visit: To see: National Collection: National Garden Scheme days: No Comments: Parties / Coaches: Yes Comments: Viewing by Appointment: Yes Comments: with head gardener House Open for Viewing: No Comments: Admission Prices: Gift Aid Admission (Standard Admission prices in brackets): Adult £6.50 (£5.89), child £3.60 (£3.27), family £16.60 (£15.09) Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes Shop: No Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: No Dogs allowed: No Only on Lead: No Events: No Other Facilities: Tea room. Features: Delightful English country garden; One of Wiltshire's best-kept secrets; Full of mystery, variety and colour; Peaceful water gardens planted with irises and lilies; Unusual topiary and garden ornaments Designer: Description of Garden: The garden is not dissimilar to Hidcote with its well defined compartments, though it is more informal and just as full of delightful surprises. The topiary and hedges are different in form for each 'room' and against a backdrop of some good specimen trees, the planting schemes include half moon shaped white, pink and lilac rooms as well as blue and yellow borders, a fuschia border and a fernery with bamboos as background. There is a lovely walk reminiscent of Mediterranean countries with orange, scarlet, yellow and silver flowers and many different lavenders. Sir George Hastings brought some interesting statuary from Ranelagh House in Barnes and installed it here in the garden. In the lower garden the water-loving plants predominate by what was once the millstream. There are irises, and masses of waterlilies of every colour in the large pool and beyond in the former dyeing pool (for the mill) are giant gunnera. The autumn colours from the acers, viburnums and Sargent's Cherry are spectacular. Finally, in the arboretum formality disappears and trees such as chestnuts, limes, walnuts and beech tower over the Spring daffodils and later the Snakeshead Fritillarias. History: The early Georgian house may have been the local law courts as the property's name suggests. This is not certain though it is known that the house did originally have a mill nearby but this was pulled down in the late nineteenth century. Since then, Sir George Sir George Hastings, the architect, laid out the garden in the early 1900s in a scheme which was elaborated on by Lady Cecile Goff 20 years later, after WWI. It was she who paved the paths and terraces with slabs collected when Devizes gaol was demolished. Her daughter Moyra Goff, planted the arboretum in 1952 in an area that had previously been pasture. Local Inns: Tollgate Inn, Holt Accomodation: Restaurants: Tollgate Inn, Holt Village/Town/Sightseeing: