Longstock Park is in the civil parish of

Longstock Longstock is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It lies on the western bank of the River Test, to the north of Stockbridge and to the west of Leckford. The parish has a population of around 450. The parish church, St Mary's, was ...

in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, and forms part of the Leckford Estate (1520 ha.), wholly owned by the

John Lewis Partnership The John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) is a British company which operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The privately-held pub ...

Description

Formerly Longstock Manor, of medieval origins, the park was purchased by Sir Joshua East in 1849. On his death, the park passed to his sons Alfred and Arthur. In 1914, the park became the home of the Beddington family until 1945, when it was sold to

John Spedan Lewis John Spedan Lewis (22 September 1885 – 21 February 1963) was an English businessman and the founder of the John Lewis Partnership. Elder son of John Lewis, who owned the John Lewis department store, London, Spedan joined the business at 19 and ...

, founder of the John Lewis Partnership. Lewis lived at Longstock House throughout his retirement until his death in 1963, after which the house became a retreat for the company's executives. The park is today home to a retail horticultural emporium, the Longstock Park Nursery, and also accommodates an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shr ...

s and

water garden Water garden or aquatic garden, is a term sometimes used for gardens, or parts of gardens, where any type of water feature is a principal or dominant element. The primary focus is on plants, but they will sometimes also house waterfowl, or o ...

s. Longstock border.jpg, Part of the herbaceous border at Longstock Park Longstock pinetum 2.jpg, The Pinetum, Longstock Park

Nursery and walled garden

The nursery, initially a wholesale enterprise, was founded in 1958 with the appointment of James Duncan as Director of Gardening. A mist propagation house, one of the earliest of its kind, was built soon afterwards, and John Brooks hired as Propagator. The nursery is set in and around a brick and flint walled garden, and is home to collections of ''

Buddleja ''Buddleja'' (; ''Buddleia''; also historically given as ''Buddlea'') is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Re ...

'' and ''

Clematis viticella ''Clematis viticella'', the Italian leather flower, purple clematis, or Virgin's bower, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe. This deciduous climber was the first clematis imported into English ...

'' (accredited with

Plant Heritage Plant Heritage, formerly known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), is a botanical conservation organisation in the United Kingdom and a registered charity. It was founded in 1978 to combine the talents of bot ...

under the

National Plant Collection The National Plant Collection scheme is the main conservation vehicle whereby the Plant Heritage charity (formerly the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens) can accomplish its mission: to conserve, grow, propagate, docum ...

scheme) and the Gilchrist Collection of

Penstemon ''Penstemon'' , the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 250 species of flowering plants native mostly to the Nearctic, but with a few species also found in the North American portion of the Neotropics. It is the largest genus of flowerin ...

s. Immediately to the south is an 80 m herbaceous border; running parallel with it is a clematis and fruit tree archway, flanked by beds of Buddleja cultivars. The nursery and walled garden are open to the public throughout the year.

Water gardens

The water gardens comprise three hectares of woodland garden with lakes and interconnecting islands, declared 'the finest water gardens in the world' by the International Water Lily Society. The gardens were formed by accident; in 1870, Alfred and Arthur East, the owners of Longstock House, had gravel dredged from the banks of the River Test to construct a private road to their property, creating the lake in the process. After the Easts sold the property in 1914, Reginald Beddington, son of the new owner, elected to make an aesthetic feature of the lake. The water gardens are usually open to the public on alternate weekends during the summer. An entrance fee is levied; no dogs except guide dogs are admitted.

Arboretum

The arboretum was begun in 1869, and now comprises 28 hectares of mature trees including a pinetum with many exotic conifers. The arboretum is opened to the public in concert with the water gardens.

Location

The Park is near the town of Stockbridge, which lies 2.7 miles (3.5 km) to the south-west.

References

External links

Longstock Park

Longstock Nursery
{{Test Valley Hamlets in Hampshire Test Valley