We’ll start off by saying that this one is for the Big Oxplorers only: no children allowed, and no dogs allowed either.
Rousham is widely regarded as one of the greatest gardens in the world, by many of the best garden designers in the world. And whilst I’m no garden expert , I can say is that this quintessentially English garden will bring you the greatest of joy ambling around.
The history in itself is fascinating: Rousham represents the first phase of English landscape design and remains almost as designer William Kent left it, one of the few gardens of this date to have escaped alteration, with many original eighteenth century features still in place to today. That’s probably why it feels like you’ve stepped into a Jane Austen novel – you can see where the carriages would have arrived, appreciate the vista and imagine the ladies and gentlemen gliding around the gardens. The house also remains in the hands of the same family who originally built it in 1635.
The bowling green so prim, neat and lined, the rose garden, seven arch colonnade, the seventeenth century walled gardens, kitchen garden, dovecote…it’s just absolutely gorgeous! Wander for hours, stop at a bench overlooking the Cherwell and bring a flask to enjoy a cuppa. If you are seeking a tea room or shop then you won’t find it here, it’s about as uncommercialised as you can get, but what you will find is a very beautiful step back in time.
