A view of Tetbury

Tetbury from Highgrove
8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

After showing you the sketches of the views of and from the western aspect of Highgrove yesterday (see A visit to Highgrove - Thyme Walk and Lime Avenue), it occurred to me I could show you what it looks like on the other side of the house.

Above you can see yet another one of my 2 minute pencil sketches done during Wednesday's garden tour which was then completed with coloured pencils to the best of my colour memory's ability!

This then is the view you get when standing in front of the eastern aspect of the House. The front of Highgrove house and its main entrance look out over fields towards the town of Tetbury and the very tall spire of St Mary's, its Gothic revival church. One of the previous owners of Highgrove paid for the rebuilding of the spire on the understanding that he and his heirs could continue to enjoy an uninterruped view of it from Highgrove.

Sheep, horses and cattle graze in the fields in front of the house in the very pleasant parkland which has a mix of 200 year old wanuts and oak trees and new trees planted by the Prince. It all looked very like a Constable to me (see John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from Lower Marsh Close, 1820 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington) - although my quickie sketch gets nowhere near the impact of a Constable landscape. (Memo to self - study Constable!)

Tetbury

The town derives its name from the Saxon Abbess Tetta who in 681 AD was granted land by Ethelred of Mercia to build a monastery.
Tetbury Town Council

Tetbury is sited on a hill - hence why the tall spire seems even more impressive!. It actually lies on the site of an ancient hill fort which then became the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery in 681.

Architecture is one of the main interests of Prince Charles and I found out subsequently that Tetbury is regarded as a architectural gem. It became an important Cotswolds market town for the wool trade in the Middle Ages. Its town centre has a really impressive pillared Market House which was built in costwolds stone in 1655. It's still used for both markets and as a meeting place. On the day we visited it had a very nice small market where I bought a couple of lavendar plants and a bunch of lovely carrots!

In addition, many of the wool merchants houses apparently still look much as they did 300 years ago. I know I was very impressed by it as we passed through and would very much like to visit again to explore and draw.

So - if you are ever fortunate enough to be able to visit Highgrove, do make time to visit Tetbury as well and you won't be disappointed!

Links:

• Travels with a Sketchbook - A visit to Highgrove - Thyme Walk and Lime Avenue
• Making A Mark - Downloading my colour memory
• Making A Mark - Exhibition Review: The Highgrove Florilegium at the Garden Museum
• Tetbury - wikipedia
• Tetbury Town Council
• Tetbury Tourist Information and Travel Guide

A visit to Highgrove - Thyme Walk and Lime Avenue

The Thyme Walk and house at Highgrove
8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Yesterday I visited the garden at Highgrove with a party from the Prince's Drawing School. Highgrove is the family home of the Prince of Wales, his two sons and the Duchess of Cornwall. He bought it in 1980, the year before he married Diana, Princess of Wales and the garden has been developed over the course of nearly 30 years. When he bought it the grounds were very largely parkland and the house was very plain.

A garden should delight the eye, warm the heart and feed the soul
Prince Charles

This is a very visual garden - and one which amply fulfils the Prince's aim as stated above. Having visited very many fine gardens I think that it's one of the best I've ever seen. If, like other fine gardens which have been developed, it was one which had been made over by the Estate to the National Trust I'm absolutely convinced that it would be attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year as it certainly rivals the likes of Sissinghurst and Hidcote. As it is there's a long waiting list for organised groups seeing the garden.

The visit is a tour conducted by one of the volunteer garden guides. We had a splendid one with a name I forgot to take a note of. She was very knowledgeable about both the garden and how it had developed. The tours are conducted whether or not it rains and the paths are ones which require stout shoes in wet weather.

I'm going to write about this visit over more than one post as there was so much to see.

I was sketching on my way round the garden - but I have to emphasis these were very quick sketches - approximately two-three minutes each and all 'done on the hoof' as it were. They were also limited to areas where the subject matters was suitable for a quick sketch done before we moved on. I saw many more views which I'd have loved to draw but which would have taken more time than was available.

In practical terms, sketching fast meant big simple shapes were OK - while lots of flowers and lots of colours were not OK! All sketches completed on site were done in pencil with annotations about important colours. I then developed them further on the coach going home and last night when I got back to more coloured pencils! I've trained my memory to stay fairly good about colour for about 24 hours after a visit. In this instance the colours are about right and there need to be more work done on values which I'll maybe revisit. Quick outlines and colour note annotations don't leave a lot of time for hatching values!

It became very apparent to me that the garden has a strong architectural slant to it - strong structures underpin all the different parts of the garden and there are defined colour schemes (rather like Giverny) for particular areas. The planting them appears to be much more relaxed and has a more relaxed feel - until you notice that beds work particularly well because of the chosen colour scheme. I gatehr it's also a garden which provides year round colour.

The first sketch I'm showing you (above) is of the view looking towards the western facade. It involves looking down the Thyme Walk and past the golden yew balls which has have been topiarised into fascinating and fantastical shapes and which mix very well with the golden thyme which also lines the path. and lavendar coloured plants which line the path. On the right you can see the pleached hornbeams which have been planted and cut to make a rectangular shape which joins up. The latter very much reminded me very much of Hidcote and the pleached limes at Sissinghurst.

Turning 180 degrees and looking the other way meant looking towards what used to be a fine view of an avenue of lime trees leading down to a dovecote which is nor obscured. In front of them stands a statue of a bronze Borghese gladiator - copied from one at Houghton in Norfolk.

The Lime Avenue and Borghese Gladiator at Highgrove
8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

How to visit Highgrove

The way it works is that you contact The Garden Tours Administrator using the formal headed
notepaper of your organisation and get in the queue. The website suggests it could be quite a wait!

When you get there you have to provide your name and address and also take proof of your identity (such as a passport) and address. You also cannot take cameras onto the Estate as no photography is allowed.

More soon......

Travels with a sketchbook - in the South of England

Top L to R: Munstead Woods; Penshurst Place
Bottom L to R: Fields to the rear of Sissinghurst Castle Garden - in Spring and Autumn

This post lists all those posts which relate to places - and gardens in particular - in the South of England outside London.

Counties are listed alphabetically. The posts are then listed in the order they were published except where there are a group belonging to one place (eg Sissinghurst) in which case those are grouped together. The images all come from the posts listed.

This summary will be updated periodically with posts as they are added to the blog. It will also be listed in the right hand column of this blog.

Berkshire & Buckinghamshire

• Cliveden, Cookham and Stanley Spencer
• Eating - and sketching - Alfresco (to be transferred to this blog)
• Rush Hour at the Marlow Rowing Club (to be transferred to this blog)

East Sussex

Great Dixter

• Great Dixter
• Great Dixter in the Spring
• The Rother Valley from Great Dixter
• The Long Border at Great Dixter
• The Bird Topiary at Great Dixter

Sheffield Park

• Autumn reflections at Sheffield Park
• Autumn Colour at Sheffield Park
• An Indian Summer (and ice lakes) at Sheffield Park
• Birch, Witch Hazel, Acer Palmatum, Fir - at Sheffield Park

Gloucestershire

• Moreton in Marsh - galleries, cakes and tarts

Kent

Chartwell

• The kitchen garden at Chartwell, Churchill's former home
• View from the Chartwell swimming pool

Emmetts Garden

• Sketching bluebells at Emmett's Garden, Kent
• Through the fence (Emmett's Garden)
• The view of the Weald from Emmetts Garden

Great Comp

• International Sketchcrawl - Great Comp Garden, Kent

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

• More sketching at Sissinghurst and a salutary tale
• The White Garden, Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
• Summer at Sissinghurst
• Autumn at Sissinghurst
• Spring at Sissinghurst
• Spring fields from Sissinghurst
• Sissinghurst - and tips for time limited sketches
• Sketching the Herb Garden at Sissinghurst
• Sissinghurst Moat and Orchard in Spring sunshine
• Vita Sackville West's Tower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden
• Sissinghurst - from 3rd hottest to 2nd coldest!
• The Rose Garden at Sissinghurst - late Spring
• The view from the Downs

Knole House and Park

• Knole House in Kent

Penshurst Place

• A hot summer's afternoon in a Kentish garden (Penshurst Place)

Groombridge Place

• Groombridge Place - home of Pride and Prejudice and the Draughtsman's Contract

Surrey

Hampton Court Palace

• Hampton Court Palace and its 300 year old Yew Trees

RHS Wisley

• Blooming Wisley
• Wisley in Autumn - and the National Fruit Show
• Beschorneria yuccoides
• Three trees at Wisley

Munstead Wood

• Sketching at Gertrude Jekyll's home - Munstead Wood

West Sussex

Wakehurst Place

• Mansion Pond at Wakehurst Place