Batsford Park, Batsford, Gloucestershire, England, Tel: +44 01386701441
Batsford Arboretum is situated in the village of Batsford in the northern Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, England. The arboretum is one of the jewels of the Cotswolds and one of the largest private collections of trees and shrubs in the country. This treasure of rare and unusual plants and trees is tucked away on a south facing escarpment of the famous Cotswold Hills.
During the 1860s Algernon Bertram Freeman - Mitford (later 1st Lord Redesdale) travelled widely in oriental Asia as an attaché to the foreign legation.
He was deeply influenced by the landscapes in China and Japan and became fascinated by those plants that he found there, especially the bamboos. Whilst in Japan he became a respected expert on the politics and culture of the country.
Upon inheriting the estate Algernon Mitford, know as Bertie, demolished the Georgian house and rebuilt a new mansion between the years 1888 and 1892 as well as rebuilding many estate houses. However, it was not until 1890 that Bertie was able to turn his attention to the gardens.
His influence was most radical almost erasing all traces of the original layout. He created a 'wild' garden of near natural plantings inspired by his observations of plant groupings in the Japanese landscape. He was able to create a garden which allowed him to explore his ideas combining conventional parkland with a garden landscape. He had become an accomplished and respected plantsman and a great authority on bamboos. Most of the major trees, many of which are most unusual, were his original plantings.
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