One of the most remarkable examples of the Arts and Crafts movement in E
Rodmarton Manor is one of the most remarkable examples of the Arts and Crafts movement in England — a house and garden conceived as a single integrated work of art, built over two decades from 1909 using entirely traditional materials and methods by craftsmen from the surrounding countryside. The house was designed by Ernest Barnsley; the eight-acre garden was created by his patron Margaret Biddulph and developed continuously by the Biddulph family ever since.
The garden is divided into a series of distinct rooms by hedges of yew, box and holly — the same structural principle used at Hidcote, though applied here with a different character and on a more domestic scale. The rooms include a wild garden, a leisure garden, a troughery, a kitchen garden and the celebrated Topiary garden, where the yew hedges have been clipped into extraordinary shapes over the course of a century.
Rodmarton remains a private house, lived in by the Biddulph family, and is open to the public on selected days. Our visit is timed to coincide with the garden's opening and provides access to spaces and perspectives that casual visitors rarely encounter. It represents exactly the kind of access that makes a GardenTours itinerary distinctive.