The Japanese Garden at the New House

The following is from the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. For the most up-to-date Register entry, please visit the The National Heritage List for England (NHLE):

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

LOCATION, SETTING, LANDFORM, BOUNDARIES, AREA

The rectangular-shaped garden measures c220 square metres and lies on the edge of Shipton under Wychwood, a small Cotswold village situated between Burford and Chipping Norton. The garden is bound to the north by the River Evenlode and to the south by a stone garden wall belonging to a former vicarage now called the Lodge (a separate private dwelling, listed at Grade II, and not included in the land registered here). To the east the garden is enclosed by a beech hedge and bamboo plants, and to the west by a Cotswold stone garden wall of c1964.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

The garden is approached from the south via a long straight drive which leads to a porch. From here a door gives access to the south-east corner of the garden. A moss covered path leads in north-westerly direction to an Oak timber bridge that spans the pool. On the other side a series of stepping stones set in coarse sand, lead to the south front entrance of the New House. Against the wall enclosing the garden from the south, stone steps lead to the Lodge (excluded from the land registered here).

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

The New House is a modern private weekend house built in 1964 to a design by Stout and Litchfield for Milton Grundy, and stands in the centre of the garden. It comprises of five linked pavilions, informally arranged, which appear to rise from a bio-morphic shaped pool that surrounds the three bedroom pavilions to the east. The large windows and/or glazed doors to each of the pavilions offer views of different parts of the garden. The window in the kitchen and living room were inserted later, in c1972, in order to create further views of the garden. The covered walk and open loggia attached to its north-west offer views of the raked gravel garden.

GARDEN

The rectangular-shaped garden is dominated by the large concrete lined pool from which the house appears to rise up. It contains a number of small islands, planted with small shrubs, some accessible via small timber bridges. The remainder of the garden to the south, east and north of the house has been carefully shaped into a 'miniature' Japanese style garden with small ‘hills'. It is covered in moss and planted with small trees and shrubs. In the centre of the moss covered ‘lawn' to the south-west of the house stands a mature horse-chestnut tree, forming a prominent feature. The south-eastern edge of the pool abuts a ‘beach' of river-washed pebbles. A circular moss covered path, marked in places with stepping stones, meanders from the entrance to the garden in the south-east corner, along the east side of the house, lined to its east by a straight beech hedge, to the northern part of the garden. This is dominated by a narrow stream through which the water runs from the pool via a rustic stone cascade, to a small timber sluice further downstream, regulating the water flowing back into the river Evenlode. The far north end of the garden, abutting the river Evenlode, is laid to lawn. In the north-west corner of the garden stands a plain, rectangular-shaped garden shelter made from timber, with a raised floor. West of the house is a meditative raked gravel garden, containing stone outcrops, which is to be viewed from the covered walkway and the loggia extending from the north-west corner of the house. It is screened to its west by the Cotswold stone garden wall, which encloses a raked gravel garden punctuated by stone outcrops, based on that at the Ryoan-Ji temple garden in Kyoto. The east side of the wall has an abstract mural of 1971 by the Chinese-Russian artist Viacheslav Atroshenko (1935-1994), subsequently restored by the artist himself. It depicts the four stages of the day: morning, afternoon, evening and night. This mural probably replaced an earlier Japanese style mural referred to in an article in Country Life of 1966.

Reasons for Designation

The Japanese style garden of c1964-5 at the New House, Shipton under Wychwood, Oxfordshire, merits inclusion on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

* Landscape design interest: its layout and design are of particular quality combining Japanese style garden design with modernist design principles;

* Historic interest: it is a particularly important and rare example of an early 1960s modernist Japanese style garden laid out by the modern abstract painter Viacheslav Atroshenko and a team of Japanese gardeners, led by Mr Kasamoto.

* Intactness: the garden and the majority of its original features have survived intact;

* Group value: the interaction between the garden and the house that formed part of the overall design intention, is very strong and has resulted in a particularly interesting ensemble.

Selected Sources

Article Reference - Author: Michael Webb - Title: A House Where East Meets West - Date: 1966 - Journal Title: Country Life - Page References: 1135-6

Book Reference - Author: Pevsner, N and Sherwood, J - Title: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire - Date: 1974 - Page References: 406,760

Other Reference - Description: An interview by English Heritage held with Roy Stout and Patrick Lichfield, 9 Oct 2001

Book Reference - Author: Penelope Whiting - Title: New Single Storey Houses - Date: 1966

Article Reference - Date: 14 January 1967 - Journal Title: Bauen und Wohnen - Page References: 70-72

Article Reference - Date: May 1967 - Journal Title: Baumeister - Page References: 572

Article Reference - Date: November 1967 - Journal Title: Deutsche Bauzeitschrift - Page References: 907-911

Article Reference - Date: February 1965 - Journal Title: Architectural Review - Page References: 144-46

Book Reference - Author: Milton Grundy - Title: Atroshenko: Paintings 1959-1985 - Date: 1985