Cothay Manor, Somerset
This place is a gem.
I was lucky enough to be invited to join part of a tour organised by Marian St. Clair who blogs at Hortitopia. Marian is based in South Carolina, USA. It’s the first time we’ve met but after just a few minutes I felt as though I’d known her for years. That’s what blogging does for you I guess. Equally lovely was falling in with her group, identifying some of the many plants that grow on both of our shores, marvelling at the beauty of our surroundings and enjoying a pot of tea on the terrace.
First up, a tour of the manor house itself. No photographs are allowed inside so you will have to take my word for it, it is exquisite. This is not a place staged for inspection, such as you might find on a visit to a typical National Trust historic house. No, Cothay Manor, dating back to the 15th century and pronounced Cott-ay, is a home that is most definitely lived in. It was purchased in 1993 by Mary-Anne and Alastair Robb from the then MP for Taunton, Edward du Cann. There was a pile of mail on a chair in the Winter Parlour, a dog bed, and family photographs and keepsakes crammed on to every available horizontal surface. The walls of the drawing room in the medieval ‘Solar’ were hand painted with stylised flowers by the Robbs’ eldest daughter.
There are much older wall paintings too. Conservators are currently working in two of the rooms restoring artwork dating back to the origin of the house. When a Chinook helicopter passed overhead a few years ago fragments of a wall bearing the ancient art actually fell out as a result of the vibration. Low flying military aircraft are now banned over Cothay as a result. We were shown how one painting, of the Madonna and Child, was applied over the top of an even earlier decorative scheme, still visible underneath if you knew where to look. Absolutely fascinating.
The property must cost a fortune to maintain. Perhaps it’s just as well that Mary-Anne takes a philosophical view: “Thrifty ’till you’re fifty, then spend to the end.”
And then there are the gardens. Oh my.
Unicorn resting amidst a sea of Nepeta
The current layout was set out by Colonel Reginald Cooper in the 1920s. Cooper was old friends with Harold Nicolson of Sissinghurst fame, the architect Edwin Lutyens and Lawrence Johnstone who, since 1907, had been creating a garden at Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire. Parallels to both of these historic gardens can be found at Cothay. The original plan has been extensively replanted by the Robbs, to glorious effect.
Close to the house the space, much like Hidcote, is divided into a series of ‘rooms’, each a garden in its own right, surrounded by high yew hedges and topiary. It is perfectly possible to get lost here, and we did, hearing the voices of other members of the group but never being quite sure of how to rejoin them!
Mary-Anne made reference to her use of repetition in the borders. She is especially fond of the yew standards which crop up everywhere and add real structure to the loose planting.
Reflections in the pool
Cothay has achieved the highest accolade of two stars in the Good Garden Guide and in June 2012 featured in the Daily Telegraph’s ’20 Best Gardens in Britain’.
Cornus kousa
Alastair’s great-grandmother was a plant hunter who discovered the lime green flowered wood spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae in Turkey. It is nicknamed ‘Mrs Robb’s Bonnet’ because, so it is said, she smuggled it back through customs in her hat.
NoID rose
Roses scaling the walls of cottages adjoining the main house. They include one I’ve been hankering after for a while, R. mutabilis, furthest from the camera.
Sniff, sniff.
Wandering out beyond the garden ‘rooms’ we came across a magical wildflower meadow..
..running down towards the lake.
Birdsong, a faint breeze, peace and tranquility.
If you ever find yourself near Wellington in Somerset, Cothay Manor would well reward a visit.
It’s like stepping back into another time.
pin it?
Beautiful and exquisite! My favourite though is the quote ‘thrifty till….’ 🙂
It’s a great quote isn’t it. 50 seems a bit early though. At least for my humble resources it is!
Absolutely stunning and I also love the ‘thrifty ’til…’. Should this garden be at the top of my July list?
Cothay is about an hour and a quarter from where you’re staying but very close to the M5. Your better bet, if you can, is to try and see it either on the way down or on the return trip. It depends on the logistics really because opening hours are limited. Check the website here: http://www.cothaymanor.co.uk/ Definitely worth a visit though. Quite formal but with some luscious plants!
Ah. We’ll be driving past on a Friday and Monday, just the days when Cothay is closed! Perhaps we’ll stop at Stourhead instead and save Cothay for next time. Not sure quite how many garden tokens I have yet!
Stourhead would be lovely too, it’s not somewhere I’ve been but it looks very impressive from the photos I’ve seen.
Definitely on our list of Must Visit. Wonderful photographs, wish I could get photos to this quality.
We will definitely be going back. I’d love to see the gardens again at different times of the year.
What a magical place, I shall put it on my list. Thank you for sharing it with us. And what a treat to meet up with Marian. I think your mystery rose is ‘ Dainty Bess’.
Thanks for the ID Chloris, it certainly looks like it. It was quite a large bloom, spectacular.
Just magnificent.
Thanks Dorothy. It’s certainly a beautiful garden.
Beautiful photos, as usual. Gardens, not to speak of houses, with that kind of history are virtually unknown here. Thanks for sharing your tour!
You’re welcome Kris. It’s a very special place, even by our standards. What made it for me is that it is unspoilt. Renovating our own old place I’m always fascinated by how modern facilities are incorporated. On previous visits to similar houses we’ve studied floors, skirting boards (or lack of), beam treatments.. this time it was plumbing!
Ohohoh, what a beautiful garden – and I wasn’t there. But I will, soon.
Sigrun
I’m delighted you’re going to visit it Sigrun. It’ll be interesting to read about it again through your eyes.
Absolutely beautiful!!! So glad you could take us around the garden. Glad too you enjoyed meeting your blogging friend! Bloggers are great aren’t they!
It is very strange to meet someone for the first time when you already know so much about them. But I love it!
[J+D>] Thank you so much for going to Cothay for us all! This was a real treat. Houses and Gardens like this are definitely the one big thing we miss, living in the Outer Hebrides. They are probably the one thing that makes a journey to the mainland worthwhile! [J>]On another subject, it is only in the WordPress Reader that there is no ability to comment on your posts: here I am viewing your website through Firefox and its fine.
Hello Jonathan & Denise and welcome.
Ahh, but you have so many other compensations! Fresh air, fabulous beaches and most probably more reliable broadband than I do.. (it’s a current bugbear).
Thanks for the information re WordPress. I really hope I can get it sorted out soon, it will not be for want of trying.
Thrifty till your fifty then spend to the end – I love it!! What an beautiful place to visit, lucky you xx
It’s going to be a case of getting the timing right. 50 seems a bit early to me, but then it’s too late anyway and I’m still being thrifty. But isn’t 60 the new 50, or even 70?
What an exquisite garden not to mention house! I love the Nepeta used en-mass do you think there are bulbs earlier in the season in that area? It reminded me of the spring walk at Sissinghurst. How lovely to be invited to join Marion on her visit; we nearly managed to meet her in the States last year but sadly missed her by a day! I’m going to make “Thrifty till your fifty then spend to the end” my moto and as I’ve already passed 50 by a good few years I have some catching up to do!
I seem to remember reading somewhere, probably on their website, that in Spring the gardens are a sea of white tulips. So it’s entirely possible that they’re in that long walk too. That would be pretty spectacular.
Both the house and garden look delightful. It reminds me of the Manor House at Hemingford Grey, which is still very much lived in. Gardens not quite so grand though.
I will look that one up. I much prefer to see houses that have some soul about them. So many that we visit seem so artificially staged.
thank you Jessica for a lovely stroll through a beautiful garden, Frances
You’re welcome Frances. 12 acres, all maintained by three people! They have more stamina than me.
I remember seeing Cothay Manor on Country House Rescue a few years ago, and thinking how lovely it looked. Your photos reveal just what a stunning garden, setting and house it is. Absolutely beautiful post Jessica – every image was a joy to see and enjoy.
Thanks Rosemary. It was a doddle to photograph. Wherever we looked it was stunning. Point and shoot.
I don’t think I would want to leave. Fabulous!
We had an appointment to go on to, otherwise, probably not!
Thank you so much for sharing your visit with us, Cothay Manor looks a wonderful place and the gardens are beautiful. I would think that your visit will stay in your memory for a long time:)
It’s certainly a place I will go back to. I’d love to see how the gardens change across the seasons. Thanks Rosie.
Thank you for this wonderful tour and insight into Cothay Manor with it’s beautiful gardens, what a treat. The euphorbia anecdote is a lovely gem!
Isn’t it just. Can’t see it being so easy to get away with these days. Makes me think how nice it would be to live in a simpler and safer time.
Magnificent establishment, super text, wonderful photographs. That will do nicely
Thanks Derrick.
What a fabulous place and how wonderful that you could go inside the house too, double the enjoyment with both house and garden to visit.
The house is lovely. It feels so cosy in spite of the size and grandeur of the place. Maybe it’s different in winter!
Amazing. Love the quote and the fact the house and gardens are lived in and enjoyed on top of being accessible to visitors. You are right in that it seems out of another era, and I think I wouldn’t mind living there 🙂
I’d hate the responsibility and cost of maintaining it, but there are definitely worse places to live.
Fabulous rd, I particularly like the use of nepeta as I have advocated it for a long time as being a much easier to grow substitute for lavender. What appears to be lavender in the picture of the cottage looks decidedly patchy although on the whole a lot healthier than many you see.
Lavender is hard to grow down here. I’ve tried and more or less given up. It’s just too wet.
Lovely photographs of Cothay. When we visit my parents in the West Country I try to make a “garden stop” on the journey. Last year we saw Barrington Court and Hestercombe and now I have added Cothay Manor to my list. I also like the “thrifty ’til fifty then spend to the end” although not always easy after a lifetime of being frugal!
Check the website before you go. As it’s a residential house there are limited opening hours, especially inside the house.
Lovely. I’d like to live there please 🙂
You and me both 🙂
Wow that is a fantastic garden , when you mentioned to CT about the Nepeta I didn’t realise that there were so many plants of it! The roses on the walls must have smelt so good too! It is so much closer to us than Hidcote we will be adding it to our list and will try to visit at a different month although gardens always seem their best in June! It was amazing to read the helicopters had been stopped flying overhead too! Sarah x
It’s a Grade 1 listed house and the wall paintings irreplaceable. Quite scary that a helicopter can do that much damage though..
As I mentioned to Willow check the website before you go, it isn’t open every day.
I’m glad the comment has worked this time too! Sarah x
Thanks for persisting Sarah, sorry you’ve been having trouble.
I do miss visiting such gardens, but your post made me feel I was there. Thank you! I love the way in which they have used easy plants to stunning effect – nepeta, marguerites, lupins, and rosa mutabilis is on my list too – a glorious thing. And those meadows! And that house!
All of those! Thanks Freda.
Love the “Thrifty” quote! Stunning photos – definitely somewhere to put on the must-visit list!
Past 50 and still thrifty here.. what am I doing wrong?
We are now in the “SKI-ing” phase …… Spending Kid’s Inheritance!!
Love it! With no kids we are free of any guilt whatsoever 🙂
Wow, just wow. What an amazing place. I love the idea of garden rooms. There’s an American garden designer named P. Allen Smith whose home has 12 really magnificent rooms. I’m sure if you Google his name, his site will come up and you can have a look. I think it’s such a nice way to design a garden. I don’t have any input about your site other than that it seems to load slowly most of the time, but I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before. It’s worth the wait, in any case. 🙂
I think I’ve seen his home and garden on blogs from time to time. It looks wonderful. The nice thing about the ‘rooms’, certainly at Cothay, is that anyone can replicate them, in a much smaller space. Thanks for the feedback on the blog Jennifer. I will mention the speed next time I speak to the Help Desk.
It looks glorious, thank you for sharing the photos!
You’re very welcome!
Wow, what an amazing place. I love the look of this garden – repeat planting, so pleasing on the eye. Lovely photos, thanks for sharing. If only I’d been thrifty…
Repeat planting does work. Less is more etc. It’s something I don’t do very well. The mass nepeta planting was just gorgeous in its simplicity.
What a magical and timeless place Jessica. Thanks for your beautifully illustrated and informative tour. The fiscal motto is one that I’m already embracing 🙂 It took a couple of attempts before this post loaded using the Bloglovin’ reader and the same happened last time I visited. I’m afraid that the message I was greeted with has already slipped my mind. Will pay more attention next time.
I’m sorry about the loading difficulties Anna. There are times when I can’t log in either, it’s very frustrating. Hopefully it’s on the way to being sorted.
Your site loads slowly, with broken picture links.
I refresh and read another post, while your site catches up.
And can then read comfortably. And what a joy this garden is, I wish …
Maybe try slightly smaller pictures?
Thanks for the feedback Diana. I will seek advice!
What a beautiful place. You were lucky to get to see it.It looks just perfect.
It is very special. Mary-Anne is a truly inspired gardener.
Hurray – you’ve got the like box working! I’d have loved to be there. These pictures are very atmospheric. It’s rare to see such beautiful climbing roses at or approaching their very best.
They certainly looked very healthy. I hope our current bursts of heavy rain have not ruined them.
Oh Jessica – so much to say! I wish I’d been there too, most of all. What a truly delicious garden. The yew standards – great idea. My favourite kind of garden – flat!!! (No, not really.) I love the focus on a more limited planting palette. And, do you know, this is the second time in a week I’ve seen R. mutabilis grown on a wall. I never knew you could. I have a cutting from a dear friend that I’m nurturing and this may be its future! And fields of buttercups just to leave a warm fuzzy glow … thanks for sharing.
I’ve been toying with purchasing R. mutabilis for so very long, it’s been in my online wheelbarrow so many times! The trouble is it gets very big and in my heart of hearts I still don’t have the perfect place for it. A wall is a good solution. Now I just need a wall big enough!
So inspiring and simply gorgeous… thanks for the virtual tour 🙂 The view down the allee underplanted with Nepeta is such a refreshing sight. I see that I must get my hedging into shape to provide necessary structure – planned for, but all to easy to let slip in excitement over other plants.
So far today, no problems with your site; I was unable to leave a note two posts ago, but if this goes through, then all is well from here…
And, in reference to your last post, so sorry to see all your troubles with rabbits… grrr! I did laugh, but it had a hard, cynical ring to it 😉 I am now covering up a newly planted kniphofia, a cactus, and my beloved Aquilegia desertorum (which was torn to shreds, but not eaten) nightly. I use spare flower pots and remove them during the day, hoping that as the plants get a bit larger they can hold their own as none of them are particularly desirable rabbit fodder. I had forgotten this tactic, which I used with moderate success in my earlier garden; the rabbits reminded me of it… As of tonight, it looks like I’ll be doing the same for my baby Madame Plantier rose.
And on a happier note, that lovely single rose might be White Wings 🙂
For the rabbits I’m now using lengths of chicken wire pulled into an open topped cylinder around every new planting. I leave them on all the time (the wretched rabbits are active during the day too). Like you I just hope that when the plants are big enough and the foliage a bit tougher the bunnies will leave them alone. Failing that I know not what!
Still can’t comment?! Or rather, I left a comment but it never appeared… just trying again for a flyer…
Hopefully it will work next time Amy. As discussed, it somehow got diverted to spam. I do believe wordpress pick up on the ‘not spam’ instructions.
Thank you, I love your blogs they sometimes take while to download but that is probably my broadband please don’t make the pictures smaller, I have liked after being sent to WordPress to log in so I will now post this and see if it works
Our broadband is truly awful too, actually it’s non existent at the moment and we’re having to use a mobile dongle which is in itself patchy. Especially in summer in the rain! Must be all those wet leaves on the trees. The price we pay for living in the country eh?
I did get a box saying this form is not secure do you still want to post but it seems to work ok
Thanks Ann. Can you let me know if it happens again? Another thing to add to the list 🙁
I just got the not secure comment, too. It seems WordPress.org is really quite different to the W.com most of us simpletons use!
Thanks for letting me know. We’ve raised a(nother) support ticket. It appears to be a Safari related issue, the site is as secure as it can be.. I pay extra to make sure! WordPress.org is more complicated. I wanted to have more control of the site and flexibility in how I may use it in the future so opted for self-hosted. But I’m rapidly discovering it needs a bit of technical nouse and we lean heavily on the Help Desk.
Good luck!
Thanks. I’m hoping it is sorted now!
What a very beautiful place! and the gardens, wow! and your pictures? more wow!
Thank you! In that place no picture is a bad picture. If you get a chance to see it I think you would love it.
Gorgeous and I think I’m one of your followers having difficulty leaving a comment so I’ll try again. It’s one of my most favourite gardens in the UK and I remember seeing an interview with the owner who said of all the plants Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ was her most favourite-I liked her celebration of such a significant yet under-stated plant.
Having seen it growing en masse like that I’m thinking about where I can put more of it here. Perhaps more reliable than lavender and just as beautiful.
Oh, this takes me back to visiting county by county, as many gardens and nurseries as we could fit in a day. Where our photos went, I have no idea. Thank you!
It’s a very pleasurable way to spend a few days isn’t it. No shortage of gardens in the West Country, we could do with more good nurseries though!
Oh, beautiful! You have given me the day again, full force. What an extraordinary morning; so thrilled to have shared it with you and Mike. I’ll send this link to the others. We are just home…full of pleasure from our great adventure. Hope to see you here someday. (And I can’t wait to read that book!)
Cothay was brilliant, the tour of the house completely unexpected and totally fascinating. It was a real pleasure to meet you too and thank you so much for letting us join a little bit of the tour. I’m glad you’re safely home and had a good time. I’ve been thinking about you all week, mostly hoping that you weren’t getting too wet! At least the gardens have been loving the rain.
This looks like a fabulous place to visit, the house and the gardens look lovely. I love the virtual journey you took us on. It is always nice to meet up with fellow bloggers.
It is nice to meet up with fellow bloggers, an unexpected bonus of being online.
Cathay is so beautiful, isn’t it? I took friends last year, although we arrived just moments too late to join the house tour; lingering in the gardens whiled away a lovely afternoon.
Yes, I could have spent much longer there. Maybe go back in Autumn and see what’s changed.
Oh the stately homes of England…What a grand garden and home! I’d not realized until recently watching a documentary, that after the war for quite some time at least one country home a week was abandoned or demolished. How fortunate that some have been preserved so beautifully. This is a truly special garden!
They cost a fortune to maintain. Many of the privately owned houses are opening up to the public as the only way of making ends meet. This one is indeed very special, for the beautiful old house and truly stunning garden.
WONDERFUL PLACE, THANKS FOR THE SHARE, NOW I DON,T FEEL SO SAD ABOUT NOT TRAVELING MUCH.
Thanks Georgie and welcome. That is exactly what I love about blogging, a chance to see places that we can’t easily visit in person.