Seaton Delaval is the property of Lord Hastings and the house is, as Estate Agents would have it, in need of a little restoration. To be fair it was without a roof for fifty years and the major work that has been done already is a triumph even though there is a good way to go before completion. A completion which alas may never be achieved due to the phenomenal cost of such things and the state of the major structures. Built by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1718, he of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard fame and thought by many to be his finest work, but two major fires in the Eighteenth Century and the attentions of billeted troops during both World Wars in the Twentieth will strain your imagination.

But we don't want to tell you that. We're here to see the garden. Lord Hastings commissioned Jim Russell of Sunningdale Nurseries in 1950 to design a parterre to replace a derelict rose walk. He became so proficient at his task that he went on to work at Castle Howard in Yorkshire creating an internationally renowned arboretum. During the 1950's and 60's mainly under the direction of Lord Hasting's wife, tennis courts were torn up, hedges laid and lawns established to give a fine sweep to the formal garden. Here box hedging abounds and the tall obelisks present a pleasing symmetry although recent drought has caused some damage to a few of the forms which are made up of three conifers in each case. Yew hedging surrounds the more recent pond garden and provides an intimate area which I suspect is much used by the family who are still in residence in one of the wings, which is the only habitable part of the house at the present time.

All photographs by Anthony Blagg.