Hinton Ampner is an estate with a mansion and picturesque gardens managed by the National Trust and located in Hampshire. This was my second visit to the estate, and I got to experience the lovely gardens in mid-spring and see inside the house for the first time. The house dates from the late-1700s, and at the moment, it is only open during selected days and times. Visitors can enjoy the gardens and estate walks in addition to the mansion.
The land here has been settled for centuries, and there was an earlier medieval manor house, but it was replaced in the 1700s. The house needed a lot of repair in the 1960s, and it was set up to appear as it would have done in the 1930s. It contains a lot of possessions from the Dutton family. He was really interested in stone, so there's a lot of crafted stone tables and a lot of vases made from Blue John.
The entrance to the estate is through the walled garden, which was fairly empty but showing some promising signs of life and plants. One of the borders had beautiful pink and white tulips in their full bloom and glory. There are also good glimpses down the garden to the church, which was impressive in my last visit in the late summer. There are so many excellent views to be enjoyed around the estate.
I visited the mansion first and was told about the previous owner's love of stones and gems, and the Blue John stone vases were in nearly every room. As mentioned, the mansion is set up as it would have been in the 1930s. We got to tour the parlour, sitting room, library, dining room, and bathroom. Part of the upstairs was blocked off, and the mansion will be closed for essential maintenance later in the year.
And yes, those flowers on the table in the dining room were real! I thought they were fake, and there was an even larger similar bouquet in one of the other rooms.
One of my other favourite places for photographs is the side of the mansion at the end of the pool in the garden here. It is a lovely view that shows off the house.
Wisteria was climbing up the side of the house with the formal gardens.
There was an abundance of tulips here in beautiful purple colours, and these were surrounded by white or cream daffodils, which were sadly over. I will have to see next year's display, but the daffodils looked lovely on their own.
The other part of the gardens included some circular beds with cream and red two-tone tulips.
I saw the popular Hinton Ampner scarecrow on the way out. The garden is looking a little empty, but the forget-me-nots in front of her made a nice touch.
While I was visiting Hinton Amper, I went to walk on the Dutton Estate walk to see the bluebells! Keep checking back for my post about them.
More posts about National Trust's Hinton Ampner can be seen on this blog. See below:
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