I visited Hinton Ampner gardens, which is located in Hampshire in southern England, at the beginning of October. As I visited during the coronavirus pandemic, the house was not open during my visit. However, I was able to explore the gardens at the start of the change of the seasons in early autumn. This was my first visit to Hinton Ampner.
Hinton Ampner was rebuilt after a fire destroyed it in 1960 and has views over the South Downs. The garden was created in the late 1800s, and the property is more well-known for the gardens instead of the house. The house was actually created to be a hunting lodge, and an earlier Tudor house was located close to the current site. The earlier Tudor house was rumoured to be haunted and demolished soon after the current one was rebuilt.
The one-way system in place ensured that visitors could observe social distancing, so the start of the visit began in the walled garden where dahlia and other late summer flowers were still in bloom. Many vegetables were also located in the garden here, such as pumpkins and squash, lettuce, leeks, onion, radishes, turnips, and much more.
The greenhouses were also growing vegetables and flowers, and I saw tomatoes and vines full of grapes.
The walled garden had wonderful views of the church and late summer flower gardens.
The church is located amongst sculpted hedge rows with fruit trees.
The original Georgian country house was built in 1790 and remodelled in 1867.
On one side of the house is a beautiful rose garden with fountain and water feature.
The gardens have a mixture of sculpted shrubs and flower beds.
I hope to visit Hinton Ampner again once the house is open and it is safe to visit.
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