Rousham House and Gardens

Rousham House and Gardens

Rousham House is a lovely Jacobean house with Georgian remodelling. The house is set in superb landscape gardens, which have remained unaltered since they were designed in the early 18th century. The gardens, designed by William Kent, were one of the first and most influential of the style which became known as English landscape gardening. The house has been owned by the Dormer family since it was built.

The Gardens

Rousham's place in history is assured as one of the first landscape gardens in England, and one of the most influential. The garden design was begun by Charles Bridgman, the royal gardener, in the 1720s and the layout was finished around 1737.

In 1738 William Kent was called in to develop Bridgman's naturalistic design, and the result is a superb early example of formal garden mixed with carefully designed natural landscape style. Kent is famous as the father of the "picturesque", or English landscape garden. He envisioned the landscape as a classical painting, carefully arranged to maximize the artistic effects of light, shape, and colour.

Statue of Diana and the Octagon Pond

Kent's gardens were dotted with classical temples replete with philosophical associations. At Rousham, Roman elements abound, including statuary, urns, and a classical temple looking over the River Cherwell.

Kent designed the gardens around several ponds and cascades, with wooded glades opening to provide views to classically inspired architectural elements, or follies. There is also an attractive walled garden featured herbaceous plants and a formal parterre.

Rousham Gardens Highlights

Rousham Gardens are loosely divided into two parts. To the north and west of the house are the landscape gardens laid out by Bridgman and Kent, while to the east of the house are the formal gardens and dovecot. These two parts of the garden are linked by trails that follow the meandering River Cherwell.

Here are the major garden features, roughly following the numbered garden highlights on the visitor leaflet map.

The Bowling Green

1. The Bowling Green - Directly behind the house, with views over the river and the surrounding countryside, is the bowling green, laid out around 1720.

Lion and Horse Sculpture

2. Lion and Horse - At the northernmost edge of the bowling green is a striking sculpture of a lion attacking a horse. This sculpture, simply entitled Lion and Horse, dates to 1740 and was the work of Peter Scheemakers the Younger (sometimes spelled Scheemaeckers). Scheemakers was a French sculptor who spent most of his career in London. He is best known for his memorial to William Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey.

Garden seat by William Kent

3. Seats by Kent - Flanking the sculpture, tucked into foliage beyond northern corners of the bowling green, are canopied seats designed by William Kent.

The ha-ha

4. The Ha-Ha - The trail skirts a deep ha-ha that separates the gardens from a pasture where English Longhorn cattle graze.

The Dying Gladiator

5. Praeneste Terrace & the Dying Gladiator - You arrive at a grassy shelf known as Praeneste Terrace, with views over the treed garden below. In the centre of the terrace is a larger than life sculpture known as The Dying Gladiator.

From here you overlook the roof of William Kent's Arcade, though this lovely arched terrace can only be accessed from below.

The Octagon Pond

6. Octagon Pond - You descend a slope to the Octagon Pond which, as its name suggests, is an eight-sided pool. Higher on the slope are two large depressions that mark the site of long-vanished ponds. The clearing that surrounds the Octagon Pond is dotted with several neoclassical sculptures

Upper Cascade and Statue of Diana

7. Upper Cascade and Statue of Diana - Looking down on the Octagon Pond is the Upper Cascade, topped by a striking statue of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, nature, and fertility. Set onto the facade of the cascade arch is a memorial to an otter-hound, remembered in this flowery verse:

'In Front of this Stone lie the Remains of Ringwood, an otter-hound of extraordinary Sagacity.

Tyrant of the Cherwell's Flood
Come not near this sacred Gloom,
Nor, with thy insulting Brood,
Dare pollute my Ringwood's Tomb.

What tho Death has laid him low,
Long the terror of thy Race,
Couples taught by him to Know,
Taught to force thy lurking Place.

Hark how Stubborn's airy Tongue
Warns the time to point the Spear,
Ruffun loud thy Knell has Rung,
Ruler echoes Death is near.

All the skies in Concert rend,
Butler chears [sic] with highest glee
Still thy Master and thy friend
Ringwood ever think on thee.'

The Lower Cascade

8. Lower Cascade - Below the pond is the Lower Cascade which, like the upper cascade, is typically dry, though there is enough moisture from the pond to keep the ground wet.

The Palladian Doorway

9. Palladian Doorway & Gothic Seat - At the westernmost point of the gardens stand two neoclassical structures, a Palladian doorway and a Gothic seat, designed by Kent. Though it is called a seat, this castellated building looks for all the world like a medieval fantasy castle.

From the Gothic seat you get wonderful views across the field to Rousham House, with cattle grazing peacefully in the foreground. This must be one of the most beautiful and idyllic views of a historic house in Britain.

Temple of Echo

10. Temple of Echo - From the Gothic seat you follow a trail that skirts the edge of a pleasant woodland before emerging at the Temple of Echo, designed by Kent around 1738. Kent's original design was much larger than the building we see today, and was executed in its current form by William Townsend.

The Statue of Apollo

11. Statue of Apollo - On the slope below the temple is a statue of Apollo, which stands at the crest of a broad, wooded avenue known as the Long Walk, which leads down the slope to the Octagon Pond. The statue of Apollo has been deliberately placed at the crest of a rise so that it stands in silhouette if you look up the Long Walk.

Heyford Bridge

12. Heyford Bridge - If you stand by the statue and look north, following the course of the River Cherwell, you see Heyford Bridge, which acts as a focal point in the distance. The bridge dates to at least the 14th century, though it has been restored and rebuilt many times since then.

The Cold Bath

13. Watery Walk and Cold Bath - Below the Temple of Echo a sinuous trail known as Watery Walk leads through woodland. In the centre of this trail is set a stone channel, carrying water to a secluded pool known the Cold Bath. Like the Octagonal Pond, the Cold Bath is octagonal.

Praeneste Arcade

14. Praenestre Arcade - Return to the Lower Cascade and you will see the Praeneste Arcade on the slope above you. This delightful arcade is arranged to give views over the Cherwell below and has picturesque seats for sitting and admiring the view.

The Pyramid

15. The Pyramid - If you follow the river you come to The Pyramid, designed by Kent around 1720. Again, this picturesque building is arranged to give views over sloping ground to the river below.

The Classical Seat

16. Classical Seat - A short trail leads you from the Pyramid to a small neoclassical bench by the water known as the Classical Seat. This is the most easterly point in the garden.

The walled garden

17. Walled Garden - From the Classical seat, follow the trail up the slope to the walled garden. This is divided into several sections, with a kitchen garden at one end and a more formal garden at the other, featuring a small fountain and an arched walk beneath a ceiling of flowering vines.

The Pigeon House Garden

18. Pigeon House Garden - Even more picturesque is the Pigeon House Garden, centred around a lovely circular dovecot with a conical roof. The sound of pigeons cooing accompanies you as you explore this beautiful garden, planted with an intricate Rose Parterre.

Even this simple description of Rousham's glorious gardens can't do it justice. Everywhere you look are intriguing classical urns and statues arranged to punctuate strategically designed views. Rousham is a delight. Our family have visited in summer and in autumn, and we saw something uniquely wonderful each time. I highly recommend at visit.

Rousham House north facade

Rousham House

The garden draws most people to Rousham, and deservedly so, but the Jacobean house is worthy of note. It was begun in the 1630s by Sir Robert Dormer on earlier foundations, and despite remodelling in the 18th and 19th centuries, the core of Rousham House is much as Sir Robert would have seen it. The house is situated on a terrace above the River Cherwell, with lawns sloping down to the river.

Whereas the landscape gardens have blessedly remained unaltered since their inception, the house has undergone several changes. The most notable was the work of William Kent, who was also responsible for the landscape gardens and the stable block.

In the 18th century, the distinction between gardening and architecture was not as distinct as it often is today. In England in particular, the gardens surrounding a house became seen as an extension of the house, with the style of one complementing the other.

Kent redesigned the Jacobean interiors at Rousham, but left untouched the original staircase. Other original features still intact include Jacobean panelling, as well as a variety of 17th-century furniture and portraits.

Rousham House from the Gothic seat

One of the interior highlights is the parlour, designed by Kent. Indeed, not only did Kent draw up plans for the classically inspired chamber, he is said to have painted the ceiling himself. There are four classical doorways in the parlour, but only one is an actual door; the others are false doors, inserted by Kent purely to provide the symmetry he desired.

Nicolas Pevsner, the prolific architectural historian and writer who may be considered to know a thing or two about English houses, lauded the parlour at Rousham as 'one of the most exquisite small rooms of the 18th century in England.' Moving back to the exterior of the house, Rousham was redesigned in 1876 by John Henry St Aubyn, who altered the north frontage.

Rousham Church

Located immediately beside the walled garden, and part of the Rousham estate, is the parish church of St Leonard and St James. This is a lovely early medieval building with a sturdy square tower in Perpendicular style. The interior features some lovely medieval tombs and memorials to the Dormer family of Rousham House.

Rousham Church

Rousham for Families

Rousham is a wonderful house and superlative garden, but, sadly, not the most welcoming place for families. As of this writing, no children under 15 years of age are admitted.

Visiting

Rousham must have one of the most picturesque approaches to its visitor car park of any historic property in England! Following unobtrusive signs, you guide your vehicle through an arch in the 18th-centry stable block, over well-worn cobbles, and emerge into a small courtyard, with the stables behind you and the walled garden directly ahead, beyond a high stone wall.

An unmanned niche in the stable block holds a payment machine and information leaflets complete with a map of the gardens. This map has numbered garden highlights that follow a roughly circular walk around the estate and along the River Cherwell.

Rousham is delightfully informal; there are no cafes or visitor centres, though there are visitor WCs in the stable block. You simply follow the signs that guide you past the front facade of Rousham House and around the corner for the start of the garden walk.

You can find Rousham just south-west of Lower Heyford village. There is easy access from the A4260.

As of this writing, Rousham is open daily throughout the year, but please check the official website before visiting.