Fonthill Estate

Join us for a rare opportunity to visit Fonthill House gardens not often open to the public, set in the idyllic rolling countryside of South Wiltshire. Head gardener Jack Greenwood will lead the tour. Jack's ethos in any garden is no dig, especially in Fonthill's own kitchen garden.

Surrounding the house are formal gardens, redesigned and replanted by Tania Compton, featuring a mix of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, bulbs, and annuals. Highlights include a selection of old and new sculptures, such as a water feature by William Pye, accessed through interconnected spaces. The ornamental kitchen garden provides the house with a variety of fruit and vegetables.

Above the house is a woodland garden filled with spring-flowering shrubs, including azaleas, magnolias, camellias, and rhododendrons, planted under the guidance of Chelsea gold medal designer Marie-Louise Agius. The woodland walks feature sweet chestnuts, tall majestic oaks, and an oak house made from young saplings. To the south is the Deer Park, currently grazed by sheep. Beyond the park lies Fonthill Lake, teeming with wildlife year-round. The garden offers incredible 360˚ views of the surrounding woodland, parkland, and ever-changing colours.

Fonthill has a long and exotic history, notably involving writer and collector William Beckford, who replaced his father’s neo-Palladian house with the Gothic Fonthill Abbey in the 1790s. The current house is built on the cellars of Little Ridge, a vast house designed by Detmar Blow for Lord Margadale’s great-grandfather in 1904 and demolished in 1972.

The tour includes lunch at the garden. This exceptional experience is not to be missed.

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