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Bluntisham House (also known as The Rectory)

Introduction

Features of Bluntisham House include lawns, grottos, fences and meadows.

An 1814 account of the garden in the ‘Huntingdon Gazette' states ‘the principal eclat of this happy spot, is derived from its lawns and gardens, excellence of which few on so small a scale ever equalled, numerous illusions, labyrinths, mazes unvisited by the sun, paths winding into bowers, and cool grottos stored with scraps, conspire to please and surprise in these fantastic regions'.

The present garden is about 1.2 hectares, with a lawn running down from the house to the new brick pier and railing fence, which enables a view to extend from the house uninterrupted across the meadows on the other side of the road to the river in the distance. In the rear garden is a Gothic arch said to have come from either Ramsey Abbey or the local church.

The picturesque gardener's cottage on the west side has a timbered gable with triangular window. Part of the extensive kitchen garden was sold in 1935 for the building of a Meeting House. In spring, the lawns are edged with sheets of hardy cyclamen.

History

Formerly the Rectory, this early-19th-century house stands on the site of an earlier 18th -century house. Dorothy L. Sayers, the crime fiction writer, lived in the house as a young girl, when her father was Rector.

Features & Designations

Features

  • Lawn
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  • Fence
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  • Grotto
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  • House (featured building)
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Key Information

Type

Garden

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Domestic / Residential

Survival

Extant

Hectares

1.2

Civil Parish

Bluntisham

References

Contributors

  • Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust