Hinton Ampner

Hinton Ampner is an elegant country house in a superb downland setting near Alresford in Hampshire, representing one of the most personal and accomplished architectural and horticultural achievements of 20th-century England. The original Victorian house on the estate was devastatingly destroyed by fire in 1960, but its owner Ralph Dutton, 8th Lord Sherborne, responded not with despair but with extraordinary determination. Over the following decade he rebuilt the house from scratch in the restrained Georgian style he had long admired, creating a refined and harmonious building that sits naturally in its landscape.

The interior of the rebuilt house provides a beautiful setting for Dutton's remarkable personal collection of 18th-century English and Italian furniture, Old Master paintings, rare ceramics and decorative objects accumulated over a lifetime of connoisseurship. Each room has been arranged with a scholar's eye for quality and proportion, giving the house an intimate atmosphere quite distinct from the grand showpiece interiors found in many country houses.

But it is unquestionably the garden that draws the greatest number of visitors to Hinton Ampner, and which has secured its place in the history of English horticulture. Dutton began transforming the grounds in the 1930s and continued refining his vision for over four decades, creating what many experts regard as the finest garden designed and made by a single individual in 20th-century England. The garden is conceived as a series of formal outdoor rooms extending from the house, with long axial vistas leading the eye across the Hampshire downland to the distant hills.

The planting is famous for its bold use of colour — the strongly mauve and purple borders that run along the main terrace walk are among the most photographed in England — as well as its masterly combination of formal structure and naturalistic planting. Ancient topiary yews, clipped hedges and formal terraces provide the architectural backbone, while the borders overflow with carefully chosen perennials, old roses and shrubs that create a succession of interest from spring to autumn.

The walled kitchen garden, sunken garden, dell garden and the informal pleasure grounds beyond the formal terraces each have their own character while contributing to a unified whole. The distant views from the terraces across the Hampshire Downs are exceptional, and on clear days extend for many miles. Hinton Ampner passed to the National Trust in 1986 and is presented with great care and sensitivity to Dutton's vision.