About 17 miles from his town house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields the Duke of Newcastle, a leading politician and several times Prime Minister in the 18thc, developed a country retreat in Surrey which is now one of the earliest surviving English landscape gardens.
Its creators are a roll-call of the great and good of the day starting with Sir John Vanbrugh, Charles Bridgeman and William Kent and later Capability Brown and Henry Holland as well as the work of the Duke’s gardeners, Thomas and John Greening.
Referred to by the Duke as “Dear Claremont” it was already being described in 1727 – long before its completion – as “the noblest of any in Europe”. Its high status continued right up until the First World War after which it fell into decline until the house became a school and much of the garden was acquired by the National Trust. The estate still retains many of its original features, and the grounds are now Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
The blog is about to celebrate its 11th birthday!
As usual I’ve been wracking my brains for the last few weeks trying to think of something original and garden-related to say about Christmas.
The Garden History Blog 
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