Rousham

Rousham is one of my favourite gardens in the UK. It’s a classic example of the work of William Kent (1685-1748). Rousham represents the first phase of English landscape design and remains almost as Kent left it, one of the few gardens of this date to have escaped alteration, with many features still in situ, including the ponds and cascades in Venus’s Vale, the Cold Bath, and seven arched Praeneste, Townsend’s Building, the Temple of the Mill and a sham ruin known as the ‘Eyecatcher’.

The beautiful walled garden has herbacious borders, a small parterre, pigeon house and espalier apple trees. A herd of rare Long-Horn cattle can be seen in the park.