Join us for our annual Bampfylde winter lecture, with guest speaker Marcus Chilton-Jones MA, Curator at RHS Bridgewater Gardens
If you're planning to visit between Monday 9th September and Friday 13th September, please be aware that there is a diversion in place to get to the main entrance. This is due to Wessex Water works taking place and closing the road along Pitchers Hill in Cheddon Fitzpaine. To see where the road closure is and the diversion, please click here. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
This event is fully booked
Join us for an intellectual evening as we host our annual Bampfylde Lecture - held each year on the anniversary of the birth of former owner Coplestone Warre Bampfylde - with guest speaker Marcus Chilton-Jones MA, Curator of RHS Garden Bridgewater.
Marcus will deliver a lecture on the restoration of RHS Garden Bridgewater, one of the largest gardening projects undertaken in Europe in recent years. This lecture will give audiences the chance to hear more about the transformation of this 154-acre green space, and much like Hestercombe, how green spaces that embrace a site's heritage enrich the lives of local communities and protect the environment for the future.
If you would like to enjoy a Supper with us before the lecture, consisting of two-course and a small glass of wine, please add this in addition to your ticket(s).
Marcus Chilton-Jones started in the new role of Curator of RHS Garden Bridgewater in January 2017. He joined the project from the Dorothy Clive Garden in North Staffordshire, where he worked as Curator for eight years.
After I finishing his apprenticeship with National Trust he worked on a restoration project at Morden Hall Park in southwest London. He then moved on to Berryfields, former location of BBC Gardeners’ World.
Marcus is passionate about his role in creating a garden on a site that has a history of gardening that's been lost for over 100 years and his personal ambition "for Bridgewater is that it becomes the number-one garden in the north west of England".
The person he admires most in the gardening world is "Lancelot Capability Brown. He was the leading landscape architect of his day and his legacy 250 years on is massive - there are more than 190 'Capability Brown' landscapes across Britain".
This is an event aimed at raising funds for Hestercombe's continuing restoration and preservation work.
Tickets are priced at £10 for non-members and £8 for members. Members will be given priority booking before remaining tickets are released widely.
Described as “one of the top twenty gardens to visit in the country”, Hestercombe is always beautiful throughout the year. Join today and enjoy unlimited access, with prices from £48 per year.
Give a Gift of Membership to friends and family and they too can enjoy all the benefits of membership.
