Hidcote

Hidcote is a small hamlet on the northern Cotswold escarpment, known almost entirely for Hidcote Manor Garden — one of the most influential gardens in Britain. The garden was created from 1907 by Major Lawrence Johnston, an American-born horticulturist who transformed a relatively featureless farmstead into a series of garden 'rooms', each with its own distinct planting scheme, connected by hedged corridors and giving onto views of the escarpment and the vale beyond.

Hidcote Manor Garden is now managed by the National Trust and is considered one of the defining twentieth-century gardens of Britain. Johnston's design — which maintained structure through hedges and enclosures while abandoning Victorian formality in planting — was enormously influential on subsequent generations of garden designers. The plant collection is exceptional, including many species that Johnston himself collected on botanical expeditions to southern Africa, China and the Alps.

The hamlet of Hidcote Bartrim, a few hundred yards from the garden entrance, is one of the most secluded in the northern Cotswolds — a quiet cluster of stone farms and cottages that feel several removes from the tourist circuit. The escarpment above offers magnificent views across the Vale of Evesham towards the Malvern Hills, and Chipping Campden, Mickleton and Ebrington are all within easy walking distance.