Kingham Lodge Gardens

Kingham Cottages are located within the grounds of Kingham Lodge in the heart of the Cotswolds. Throughout their stay, guests are free to enjoy our 5 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. There are 2 private lawns we ask guests to respect.

Click here to download a map of the gardens

The gardens at Kingham Lodge have been planted over the past 30 years and have been a huge family project.  Unusually for the Cotswolds we are situated on sand over gravel so are able to grow a number of ericaceous plants not normally seen in the Cotswolds.

From the cottages you can walk up past Ryeworth & Kite’s Gate parking area to access the gardens via a gate to the main lawn (we are grateful to our guests for not walking around our private lawns next to the main house). We provide a map of the grounds & gardens.

Along the 150 metre border, backed with trellis, are two sections.  The first broadly blue and white and the second in shades of red from orange to purple. Between this border and the tennis court hedge there is a quiet green walk leading first to the vegetable garden and the tennis court and secondly to the chickens (and compost/bonfire area) and then leading into what we call the Newbury plantation.

Now becoming mature this area has an over-storey of pine and many varieties of eucalyptus, some badly hurt in the winter of 2010-11.  It is under planted with a layer of lilacs, magnolias, prunus, malus and cherry varieties and then at ground level there is a layer of rhododendrons, azaleas, and many other shrubs.

Through the Newbury you can cross the waterfall by the quarry pond. In May the laburnum arch to the left and the azaleas look stunning. Carry on walking round the Plantes, named after the circular tree areas that surround Cracow in Poland. These shaded walks have a top storey of mostly deciduous forest trees and then a lower storey of flowering trees and a base layer of shrubs and interesting herbaceous planting. The year starts with aconites flowering under trees, in February there are thousands of snowdrops giving way to anemones, specie tulips and then daffodils, tulips, erythroniums and many other later bulbs and irises. From January to July there is a rhododendron in bloom although the big displays are in May, along with the azaleas.

From the walks are longer views, first of the park areas around Kingham House (a lovely William & Mary house that was once the rectory). Through the wrought iron gates, which commemorate a family wedding in 2006, there are views over the valley to the hills on the Stow-Burford ridge, and then over to Stow itself where the tower of St. Edward’s Church can be seen on the horizon.

The return walks take you past the rectangular mirror pond which links with the Islamic pavilion.  The unusual green stone sculpture in the middle of the pond was carved in Zimbabwe. After the pond there are choices to be made between the Pergola, flanked with espalier apples and hung with wisterias, clematis, roses and other flowering climbers, or down the Parterre with its complicated patterns of box bushes. The repeating rhythm of sections each contains a different contemporary design. In special years (such as daughters’ weddings!) these designs are planted with flowering annuals making a rich carpet of colours. At the bottom of both these walks you will come across a huge armillary sundial, installed in 2020 to commemorate the 70th birthdays of Chris and Delphie.  This is the best south facing seat in the garden so do sit on the giant curved oak bench and enjoy the warm sun if it shines during your visit!  A wander back across the large main lawn brings the walker back to the path to the cottages, with views of the croquet lawn, the main house and the coach house housing the pool.

Over the years Chris and Delphie have used many local tradesman including one carpenter Rob who said. ‘I always like working for Chris, I never know what the next mad project will be.’ That neatly encapsulates the thinking behind Chris’s vision. To date Rob has made a barrel shaped roof, lanterns for The Loft and Chris’ office, the shutters in Kite’s Gate, and the pergola in the garden.