When I last told you about the 5th Marquess of Winchester (in my article on Old Basing), he'd just seen his spectacular mansion destroyed by Cromwell and its bricks offered to the villagers to enhance their cottages. Poor John Paulet spent the rest of the Civil War, and the Interregnum, paying for his allegiance to the king in various forms of incarceration, with the threat of execution and the sale of his lands hanging over him. It's no wonder that, with the freedom and restored fortune brought by Charles II, the marquess decided not to return to Basingstoke’s bad memories.
He retreated, instead, to an estate 20 miles to the northwest called Englefield. Though the current house has been much expanded and remodelled since his time, it still stands. And though most of the exterior you see today is 19th century, its "Jacobethan" pinnacles, cupolas and lace-like stonework would have made Paulet feel right at home.
The house isn’t open to visitors, but the gardens welcome them on Mondays throughout the year. Admission is free to members of the Royal Horticultural Society, the National Gardens Scheme and the Historic Houses Association. It’s one of those places I’ve driven by scores of times over the years but never managed to prioritise. In this time of staycations, it finally got my full attention this bank holiday weekend.
These are Victorian gardens, reflecting the age’s twin obsessions with plant hunting and Italy. The formal parts of the garden, stretching to one side of the house, are comprised of three enormous terraces bounded by stone balustrades, arches, urns and other bits of architectural framing.
A team of Italian craftsmen took up residence to build them; one can only imagine how exotic they must have seemed in rural Berkshire in the 1860s. The result is something that would fit naturally beside a Baroque Roman palace, softened by the lush colours of traditional English planting schemes and gentle views over the adjacent valley. The polo team practicing below added to the slightly odd Anglo-Italian mash-up.
I assume these terraces blaze in mid-summer with beds of bright annuals. But I suspect my early May visit saw the garden at its best. A hillside above the house is covered with a lightly-planted woodland carpeted in bluebells.
A broad, grassy path runs along the woodland to the top of the hill, where there's a thoughtfully-placed bench from which to contemplate house, garden and the wide valley stretching beyond. The other side of the path gives way to thickets of azaleas and rhododendron, most at the peak of their bloom.
The hill on which they're planted slopes gently, arriving in a grassy valley bordered by a stream that comes through a vaguely Japanese rockery. At this time of year it's awash with forget-me-nots.
From here, the grass leads to the top of the terraces, where everything goes from informal to rigid, sinuous to dead straight. But even here there's plenty of colour, with Japanese maples putting out their bright early leaves, bulbs blooming in pots and borders, and a profusion of flowering fruit and magnolia trees. From the edge of the terrace in front of the house there's a lovely view down towards the estate village and its parish church.
Though it was my first time at Englefield House, it all felt quite familiar. The answer came when I got home and a bit of research revealed it's a wildly popular filming location. (An hour out of London, just off the M4, tourists only on Mondays. Perfect!) The King's Speech, X-Men, and Black Mirror are just a few of its more recent film credits and it's a regular background for luxury brand photo shoots. But I recognised it from something much older: it was the setting of the the first-ever episode of the Jeeves and Wooster television series. It's also a high-end conference and wedding reception venue. Recent brides include Pippa Middleton.
Wander down towards that church and you'll find an old-school estate village. A small shop, a junior school, a row of charming cottages in matching architecture. It's all within the estate so there's no incursion from the outside world; it reminds me of the enclaves you find within Windsor Great Park. Unsurprisingly, this slice of old-word cosiness supports an estate that hasn't left the family since the John Paulet with whom we started our story. The title has gone, and the family name has changed multiple times following descent through female lines, but the tie remains. The current owner is Lord Richard Benyon, a conservative politician who's had long involvement with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. His financial affairs ... more public than most stately home owners because of his political life ... make it clear he has no need of the tourist pounds that the Monday garden visitors bring in. I'm delighted the family is happy to share just for the joy of it. It's a garden that deserves an appreciative public.
