Abbots Ripton Hall
Ancient site owned by the likes of Sir John St John, Oliver, Earl of Bolingbroke, and (an eighteenth century) Julius Caesar.
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE28 2PQ
The present Lord De Ramsey’s father moved into the hall in 1937 and after the War started to make major changes and restorations to the garden. The overall design was drawn up by Humphrey Waterfield who had a wonderful garden near Menton in the South of France. Together with Lady De Ramsey they set about changing the garden to what it is today. From a good basic framework of old trees, lawns and the brook, they added borders, roses and mixed plantings now numbering some 1600 species.
The present Lord and Lady De Ramsey are carrying on with this work, improving borders re-planting areas where age is beginning to show and adding new plants to the ever-growing collection commissioning new hard features and maintaining the follies. They have also started a fine collection of red-list and unusual oak trees. Acorns from over 60 trees have been collected from around the world, propagated and then planted out in the garden and parkland.