Hampton Gardens — Attraction in Hope under Dinmore

Hampton Court Castle, also known as Hampton Court, is a castellated country house in the English county of Herefordshire. The house is in the parish of Hope under Dinmore 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Leominster and is a Grade I listed building, which is the highest category of architecture in the statutory protection scheme.

Hampton Court dates from 1427. Sir Rowland Lenthall built the original house on an estate which had been granted to him some years previously on his marriage to the king's cousin Margaret Fitzalan, a daughter of the Earl of Arundel. Informally the grant occurred in the time of Henry (of) Bolingbroke, as King Henry IV was due to the Wars of the Roses which was a complex and intermittent civil war widely described as a cousins' monarchal feud before he gave it to Lenthall. Sir Rowland's house was a quadrangular courtyard house and has retained this basic form. In other ways the house has been significantly altered.

It was owned by the noble Coningsby family from 1510 until 1781, when it was inherited by George Capel, Viscount Malden, son of the 4th Earl of Essex. He changed his name to Capel-Coningsby and remodelled the building to the designs of the architect James Wyatt. In 1810 the estate was purchased by John Arkwright, the grandson of the inventor and industrialist Richard Arkwright.

Some of the original oak panelling was taken probably during the 17th century to Wickton Court, a grand house near Leominster and remains a feature of its living room. The house was remodelled in the 1830s and 1840s to restore a castle-like layout, exterior and decoration, reversing earlier attempts to make it appear more regular and domestic.

It was sold by John Stanhope Arkwright in 1910 followed by a gradual succession of conveyances. Between 1924 and 1972 it was the seat of Viscount Hereford and was bought by American businessman Robert Van Kampen in 1994. He died in 1999. The formal gardens were opened with a celebration by the family in the year 2000, where the Indiana Wesleyan University Chorale was featured as a sacred choir and some members as a small madrigal choir. Hampton Court Castle and grounds were sold by the Van Kampen family in 2008.

In January 2016, the house was for sale at the price of £12M, having been advertised for sale for more than a year at prices of up to £16M. It was described as part of a 935 acres (3.78 km2) property with 26 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms. It also includes a conservatory designed by Joseph Paxton.

The gardens are a particular feature, and include an organically managed kitchen garden, as well as a maze, a secret tunnel, Dutch garden, island pavilions and a 150-year-old wisteria arch. Hampton Court has a 12-acre (4.9 ha) garden which was largely created by the Van Kampens and is open to the public throughout the summer months, and now offers special events such as outdoor theatre productions, small concerts and family days out. The house (empty) and grounds featured extensively in the 1970s BBC television first series of Survivors: filmed in spring and...

Our visit on the 27th August 2023 was our annual anniversary treat. Our trip from Wolverhampton was very straight forward and we found the Castle with ease.

We parked on a large grass area away from the Castle and walked to the entrance close by. We had previously booked our tickets, which I would highly recommend, and were shown to the large walled garden. Though we had missed the best of the flowers it was still possible to get some idea of how amazing the gardens would have looked like earlier in the season. Part of the gardens was set aside for a maze which we decided to miss. From the gardens, we enter the castle grounds and decided to treat ourselves to a drink and a cake.

The café is located attached to the side of the castle and is constructed in the style of the castle but with large glass windows making it bright and welcoming. As with most eateries at historic locations, the prices were a little high but our drinks ad cakes were well worth the extra cost.

From the café, we made our way into the castle buildings and were met by a guide. We were directed around the castle, no guided tour on this occasion. We made our way down hallways adorned with arms and armour, heads of hunted animals and tapestries. We then came to the staircase, which again was extensively decorated with arms, armour and shields from around the world. Having climbed the grand stone staircase we were able to see some of the private apartments and some of the bedrooms which can be hired for weddings ect.

Back on the ground floor, we saw the reception room which again cane be hire for weddings and events. Walking a little further down the hallway we came to an amazing library, walls and walls of books, or so we thought. The guide from the entrance hall then asked us if we had seen the hidden doorway. I hadn't but my wife had, so the guide open a section of the wall to show the door opening into the hallway which we had just come through.

There is much more to see inside and within quadrangle that makes up part of the castle, we now head back outside.

Having enjoyed our picnic at a table outside the café, we decided to take a walk along the river, at the rear of the castle, whilst we waited for the last event of the day, the jousting. Following the well walked trail, we made our way around the side of the castle to the large lake. The walk took about 20 to 30 minutes there and back.

We arrived back at the castle just as the jousting was about to start. The "Knights" were extremely entertaining and the jousting, sword play and hand to hand fighting had the crowd cheering. With this type of event, you have to have a baddie and the Black Knight was certainly this, cheating his way to success, much to the disgust of the crowd who jeered him loudly. Thankfully, he got his just desserts.

Overall, A very informative, highly entertaining afternoon in spectacular surroundings. My only negative was that the gift shop lacked gifts suitable for the day we...

Hampton Court Castle is an absolutely beautiful place to visit and has something to offer for all the family.

Adult entry at the time of visiting was £10 to access the gardens only, or £15 for the gardens and a guided tour of the castle.

The immaculately kept formal gardens are truly stunning with lots of hidden areas, water features, pavillions and outdoor sculptures to discover. There's also a vast area of lawns dotted with huge majestic Lebanese cedar trees that lead down to a river walk.

The gardens also feature a 1,000 yew tree maze with a central Gothic viewing tower. A tunnel leads from the basement of the tower to a hidden sunken garden with a waterfall you can walk behind.

The Castle itself is well worth a visit too. Our tour guide, Susan, was the best guide we've ever had; she was warm, friendly, extremely knowledgeable, and obviously had a great passion for the castle and its history! She really did a fantastic job and brought the castle to life with a great sense of humour.

The only area I felt could be improved was the food offered in the Joseph Paxton-designed Orangery Cafe. I opted for a cheese and plumb chutney sandwich on granary bread with a small bowl of chips.

Due to the stunning surroundings I envisaged being served a thick, freshly cut sandwich of delicious granary bread with slices of mature cheddar cheese and plumb chutney. The reality was quite a disappointment; a sandwich of the thinnest, mass produced sliced brown bread, without any butter or margerine, a few slices of tasteless thin 'plastic' cheese and plumb chutney.

Two sandwiches, two bowls of chips and 2 cans of coke came to a few pence under £30. This would have been acceptable if the quality had been good.

All in all, it's an amazing place to visit, and I'd definitely go again. But next time I think I'll take...