Historic Gardens of Wiltshire

In a county of iconic landscape gardens such as Wilton, Stourhead and Longleat there might appear to be few other gardens worth writing about. Yet this countrywide series is proof that the more we search in the archives and in the hidden corners of each shire, the more rewarding are the surprises.Charles Bridgerman's geometric amphitheatres in the thickly wooded slopes at Amesbury and at Trafalgar House. Alderman Beckford's almost underwater grottoes at Fonthill and the grotto of the setting sun at Bowden Bark are waiting to be discovered. And there are rare watercolours by Humphry Rep ton of projected improvements for New Bark. Roundway, near Devizes.At Iford. Harold Peto brought Tuscany to Wiltshire with the most evocative Italian garden on English soil. But the county's modern gardens are equally impressive. Naked girls gesture from the waters of Chisenbury, giant nutmegs stud the grounds at Bel com be and I.M. Peri's Millennium Pavilion at Oare House looks like a spaceship just landed in the fields - a modern day equivalent of the Temple of Hercules at Stourhead.