Orchards, Surrey
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Orchards is an
Arts and Crafts style The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
house in Bramley in Surrey, England. It is on Bramley's boundary with
Busbridge Busbridge is a village in the civil parish of Godalming, in the borough of Waverley in Surrey, England that adjoins the town of Godalming. It was until the Tudor period often recorded as Bushbridge and was a manor and hamlet of Godalming unt ...
and south-east of
Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...
town centre. Described by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
as the first major work of architect
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
, it is a Grade I
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. The gardens are Grade II* listed in the
National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England #REDIRECT Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England {{R from move ...
{{R from move ...
. The property is privately owned.


History

The house was built during 1897–99 by
Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...
for William and Julia Chance. Sir William Chance (2 July 1853 – 9 April 1935), a barrister and philanthropist, was the son of Sir James Timmins Chance, of the glassmaking company
Chance Brothers Chance Brothers and Company was an English glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (county), West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassma ...
, and succeeded his father as the second Chance baronet in 1902. His wife, born Julia Charlotte Strachey, was the only child of explorer Sir Henry Strachey. She was an amateur sculptor, and a supporter of the
Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
. The couple initially commissioned architect
Halsey Ricardo Halsey Ralph Ricardo (6 August 1854 – 15 February 1928) was an English architect and designer. Family History Ricardo was born in Bath on 6 August 1854. He was a son of banker Harry Ralph Ricardo (1823–1860) and Anna Halsey (a daughter of ...
for their new house, but did not like his preliminary designs. When they happened to walk past
Munstead Wood Munstead Wood is a Grade I listed house and garden in Munstead Heath, Busbridge, on the boundary of the town of Godalming in Surrey, England, south-east of the town centre. The garden was created by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, and becam ...
, the house which Lutyens was then building for garden designer
Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British Horticulture, horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United Sta ...
, they were impressed and decided to employ Lutyens instead. They also employed the same local firm of builders as Jekyll used at Munstead Wood, Thomas and William Underwood. Orchards was the first in a series of successful designs by Lutyens for Arts and Crafts style
country houses 300px, Oxfordshire.html" ;"title="Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire">Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a To ...
, larger than Munstead Wood but similarly using local styles of
vernacular architecture Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...
. These included Goddards and Tigbourne Court in Surrey,
Deanery Garden Deanery Garden (or The Deanery) is an Arts and Crafts style house and garden in Sonning, Berkshire, England. The house was designed and built by architect Edwin Lutyens between 1899 and 1901. It is a Grade I listed building. The gardens—laid ...
in Berkshire and
Little Thakeham Little Thakeham is an Arts and Crafts style, Grade I listed private house in the parish of Thakeham, near the village of Storrington, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. Designed by architect Edwin Lutyens in 1902, the house was one ...
in Sussex. This series of designs established Lutyens' reputation. It was the final house designed by Lutyens before his marriage. Lutyens carried out minor alterations in 1909 and 1914. In 1939, the panelling was removed from the dining room to allow it to be combined with the drawing room. A restoration project was undertaken in the 1980s by Frances and Michael Edwards.


House

The main part of Orchards is arranged around a square courtyard, which, according to Lutyens' biographer, Christopher Hussey, suggests the layout of a converted farmyard. The primary building material is local
Bargate stone __NOTOC__ Bargate stone is a highly durable form of sandstone. It owes its yellow, butter or honey colouring to a high iron content. In some contexts it may be considered to be a form of ironstone. However, in the context of stone buildings local ...
, although the walls also contain bands of red tiles. The roof consists of red tiles and the main vertical elements, the chimneys, are of red brick. Around half of the floor area of the house is dedicated to working areas, including the kitchen and servants' quarters. From the road, the driveway runs alongside the windowless, buttressed wall of the stableblock, which according to O'Brien, Nairn and Cherry "leads the eye on to the entrance side of the courtyard." The two-storey rectangular opening in the northern side of the house, gives access to the courtyard with the main entrance on the opposite side. The west side of the quadrangle is a low
cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...
, that acts as a covered walkway linking the north and south ranges. The three main reception rooms – dining room, hall/drawing room and study – are on the south side of the courtyard and are directly linked to the porch by the main corridor. The dining room, in the southeastern corner, has an east-facing
loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...
, looking out on the sunken
Dutch garden Dutch garden refers firstly to gardens in the Netherlands, but also, mainly in the English-speaking countries, to various types of gardens traditionally considered to be in a Dutch style, a presumption that has been much disputed by garden historia ...
and the Thorncombe Valley beyond. The fireplace in the hall/drawing room was designed by Julia Chance and the fireplace in the study is surfaced with Dutch ceramic tiles depicting plans of the house and garden. The main staircase is built of oak to resemble examples from the 17th century. In the north-west corner of the courtyard, Lutyens provided Julia Chance with a two-storey, north-facing
studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...
. The room features a fireplace built with niches inlaid with roofing tiles.


Garden

Orchards is built on a hilltop overlooking the town of
Godalming Godalming ( ) is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settl ...
to the west and the Thorncombe valley and the
Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High W ...
to the southeast. The land, around , is mostly covered by oak, beech and fir woodland that on the western side comes almost up to the house. The academic, David Dunster, notes that the formal parts of the garden are delineated on the northeast side from the woodland by a "rampart walk" that "emphasises the drama of discovering the distant views of the
Hog's Back The Hog's Back is a hilly ridge, part of the North Downs in Surrey, England. It runs between Farnham, Surrey, Farnham in the west and Guildford in the east. Toponym Compared with the main part of the Downs to the east of it, it is a narrow el ...
." The planting scheme was created by Gertrude Jekyll. Julia Tankard notes that the design "is successful because of the way in which the gardens respond to the natural setting." Jekyll writes: "The scheme of planting has been kept very simple, with
crabapples ''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 32–57 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples (sometimes known in North America as crabapples) and wild apples. The genus i ...
,
amelanchier ''Amelanchier'' ( ), also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear,A Digital Flora of Newfoundland and Labrador Vascular Plants/ref> is a ...
s,
gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...
, and wild rambling roses where the woodland meets the lawn, and closer to the terrace
rhododendrons ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan region, b ...
,
barberry ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South America a ...
, and
spiraea ''Spiraea'' , sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species
." The writer, Tim Richardson, considers that the planting complements Lutyens' architecture, "rather than softening it". Semi-circular steps lead down from the loggia outside the dining room into the Dutch garden. This formal area was a creation of Lutyens and was not inspired by any horticultural tradition from the Netherlands. Intended to appear as an outdoor projection of the house, it is enclosed by a yew hedge that gives the space the feel of a "garden room". The semi-circular steps, designed by Lutyens, reinforce the geometric design and the area is planted with lavender. The focal point of the Dutch garden is the Grade II-listed fountain, which includes a water spout designed by Julia Chance in the shape of a lion mask. Chance remained a close friend of Jekyll and subsequently created sculptures for other Lutyens/Jekyll gardens, including at
Marshcourt Marshcourt, also spelled Marsh Court, is an Arts and Crafts style country house in Marsh Court, near Stockbridge, Hampshire, Stockbridge, Hampshire, England. It is constructed from quarried chalk. Designed and built by architect Edwin Lutyens ...
. The walled
kitchen garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
, on the eastern side of the house, includes
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
gates designed by Lutyens. The main focal points are the octagonal dipping well, surrounded by rambler roses, and the oak entrance doorway. In his 1913 publication, ''Houses and gardens by E.L. Lutyens'', Lawrence Weaver notes that the kitchen garden contains
espalier Espalier ( or ) is the horticulture, horticultural and ancient Agriculture, agricultural practice of controlling woody plant growth for the production of fruit, by pruning and tying branches to a frame. Plants are frequently shaped in formal patt ...
fruit trees trained on an oak trellis.


Critical responses

Tim Richardson comments: "Orchards and Goddards, particularly, seem to suggest both grandeur and humility at the same time – the Holy Grail for the English sensibility." The writer,
Clive Aslet Clive Aslet (born 15 February 1955) is a writer on British architecture and life, a Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge and publisher of Triglyph Books. For 13 years he was the Editor of Country Life magazine. Earl ...
, notes: "House and garden form an aesthetic unity at Orchards, the apotheosis of Lutyens' Surrey style."


Notes


References


Bibliography

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External links

{{commonscat-inline, Orchards, Bramley, Surrey, Orchards, Surrey Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Surrey Gardens by Gertrude Jekyll Arts and Crafts architecture in England Grade I listed buildings in Surrey Grade I listed houses Country houses in Surrey Houses completed in 1899 Works of Edwin Lutyens in England