************* Garden Owners, Please copy this information and paste it into an email to: wb [at] armchair-travel [dot] com Please make any changes in BRIGHT RED in your email back to us. Regards, Armchair Travel Co Ltd http://www.armchair-travel.com ************* Garden Name: Claremont Landscape Garden Last Modified: 19/01/2011 Garden ID: 0406 pic: 0406_claremont.jpg Owner: National Trust Address: Portsmouth Road Esher Postcode: KT10 9JG County: Surrey tel: 01372-467806 fax: 01372 476420 website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk email: claremont {at} nationaltrust.org.uk Features: One of the first and finest gardens of the English Landscape style; A tranquil oasis in urban Surrey; Parkland created by some of the great names in garden history; Unique 18th-century grass amphitheatre; Serpentine lake with a superb variety of waterfowl - 52 species to spot; Home to one of the finest Lebanese cedars in England; Lots of exciting children's trails English Heritage Grade: I Opening Times: 1st Jan - 30th Jan; Tues - Sun; 10am - 4pm (or sunset if earlier) 1st Feb - 31st Mar, Tues - Sun; 10am - 5pm 1st Apr - 31st Oct; daily; 10am - 6pm 1st Nov - 31st Dec; Tues - Sun; 10am - 4pm (or sunset if earlier) Open all year (closed Mons 1st Nov - 31st March). Closed 25th Dec. Belvedere Tower open 1st January 11am to 2pm and first weekend each month April to October 2pm to 5pm. Late night openings 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th June until 9. May close early on events days in July and in bad weather, especially high winds (telephone before visit). Last admission 30 minutes before closing. Best Times of Year to Visit: To see: National Collection: National Garden Scheme days: Yes Comments: Parties / Coaches: Yes Comments: Parking at entrance Viewing by Appointment: Yes Comments: Coach parties must book; no coaches on Sun or BHols. House Open for Viewing: No Comments: Admission Prices: Gift Aid Admission (Standard Admission prices in brackets) Adult £6.80 (£6.10), child £3.40 (£3.05), family £17 (£15.25). £1 tea-room voucher given if arriving by public transport (please present valid ticket) Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: No Shop: Yes Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: No Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: Yes Dogs allowed: Yes Only on Lead: Yes Events: No Other Facilities: Disabled Access: around lake safe and accessible, 2 wheelchairs (booking advisable), disabled lavatory. Dogs, on lead only, from Nov to end March. Children's play area Events: visit own website for full event programme Designer: Description of Garden: Claremont was once described as 'the noblest of any in Europe' and after the National Trust's successful renovation, it is possible to see why. From the starting point of the Belvedere, a vantage and viewing point built by Vanburgh in 1715 and containing a banqueting room below the viewing platform, the visitor can see over the bastions to the bowling green and the lime avenue. The next feature is the immense and probably unique grass amphitheatre extending over 3 acres designed to afford a view of the landscape spread out before it, which consists of the lake and woods. These replaced the original round pond and plantations. By the lake is a grotto built of sandstone and chalk probably by Joseph and Josiah Lane who built the famous one at Painswick. This is one of the few gardens on which almost all the best-known landscape gardeners worked and whose efforts did not generally obscure their predecessors'. A fascinating piece of landscape history in a beautiful setting. History: The history of this garden is as varied and important as almost any in the country. It was first laid out by Lord Clare, later the 1st Duke of Newcastle, in 1715 around a castellated palace designed by Vanburgh. Charles Bridgeman, the leading landscape gardener at the time and who had co-operated with Vanburgh on Stowe, built the grass amphitheatre in about 1726. William Kent re-modelled the landscape in front of the amphitheatre in the early 1730s in the fashionable natural form. Lord Clive (of India) bought the estate in 1768 after the Duke of Newcastle's death and pulled down Vanburgh's palace, replacing it with a Neo-Classical house designed by 'Capability' Brown who also covered the amphitheatre in trees and shrubs to disguise it and otherwise altered the landscape to make it less formal, in the prevailing fashion. The estate was bought in 1816 by the Royal Family to be the home of Princess Charlotte, only daughter of the Prince Regent and her husband, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. Only one or two buildings survive from the period of royal ownership which ended in 1922. The National Trust purchased the property in 1975 with the help of a grant from the Slater Foundation, and began the stupendous task of restoration following the previous twenty years of neglect. Local Inns: King William IV, Mickleham, S. of Leatherhead Accomodation: Restaurants: Village/Town/Sightseeing: