Houghton Lodge Gardens

Houghton Lodge Gardens has been described by recent visitors as ‘the jewel of the Test Valley’, and ‘A Stately Pleasure-Dome on the most romantic river in England’.

The gardens are Grade II* listed, and surround the best surviving example in England of a “Cottage Orne, originally built as a fishing lodge with sweeping lawns and views over the River Test.

There is a traditional kitchen garden with a heritage orchard of fruit trees, themed herb garden, a fragrant peony walk, rose arbour, vegetable, iris, hosta, cutting flower beds and an orchid house.

The herbaceous borders have year long beauty, bursting with bulbs in spring, a tapestry of colour in summer, and beautiful dahlias to dazzle in autumn. We have a small formal topiary garden and serpentine walk, and new to 2022 we have started to develop our oriental garden. There are over 14 acres of meadow walks and parkland next to the river, where you can meet our resident alpacas, the little flock of Hebridean sheep and our Topiary dragon.

Some people visit Houghton for its architecture, some for its literary connections with Jane Austen, some for the films that have been made here, some for its gardens and others for the Honesty Tearoom; but everyone leaves with a sense of its ageless tranquillity and special magic.