Brand Spanking New Website for Hestercombe

Have you spotted our exciting new Dogs of Hestercombe exhibition in the Long Gallery, which celebrates Hestercombe's patrons with paws? We love to welcome visitors and their dogs for walks in the garden and a spot of canine ice cream in the Stables Cafe. Earlier this year, volunteer and photographer Daniel McCarthy captured these charming photos of visitors...

**A regularly updated statement from Hestercombe Gardens regarding steps taken on site to help protect customers and staff from the Covid-19 pandemic.**: **Latest update: Friday 30th April 2021**: **Hestercombe Gardens is open daily for visits**: We are delighted to return to being fully open for visits from members and non-members. Bookings for the gardens...

**WELCOME TO WINTER WONDERLAND AT HESTERCOMBE!** - A sparkling winter woodland walk, skating, Father Christmas and 3 unique Carol concerts combine to make the festive season at Hestercombe exceptional._ For the first time, from November 30th until December 24th, from 4.30pm each evening (check website for exact times) an enchanting Winter Wonderland...

On the 'blog' section of our website there are regular updates about what's growing on! In the gardens Claire (Head Gardener) and Jo do reports on what's happening, with Claire's **plant ID** ***and find out about the history of Hestercombe from Kim, our archivist, who quietly works away reading old manuscripts or discovering who's who in black and white...

**Get outside this season, breathe in the fresh air and watch Hestercombe gardens come alive with the rich colours of autumn.**: - Autumn at HestercombeSeptember and October sees Hestercombe transformed by the rich shades of autumn; the cold-loving flowers and shrubs begin to bloom, bringing new colours and points of interest to the gardens. On your next...

Hestercombe is a wonderful garden venue and regularly listed amongst the top 20 gardens in Britain. Many activities are offered in the garden, a good number of them are free with garden entry such as the butterfly walks and the charcoal burning days. Special emphasis is also given to children as it’s a great place for them to engage with nature and enjoy...

**Hestercombe Shop Blog!! (a little message from Hannah - Shop Manager)** The shop is changing with the new wintery season........there's lots of new and exciting gifts arriving weekly, from stocking fillers to that extra special gift for someone in your life. Locally produced items available to support the area and community, all our cards are personally...

**UPDATE, 7th January 2021: *Please note: in line with the national lockdown, Hestercombe House and Gallery is temporarily closed. Read our full coronavirus statement for opening information.**: To visit Hestercombe House and Gallery (when reopen), you will need to book a gardens admission ticket, which also gives you entry to _Open-Up_, a new series of...

This morning I was pleased to be invited to the Cheddon Fitzpaine Church School end of your celebration and prizegiving. The celebration was held in the local Cheddon Church (which I had never actually visited, and is a really lovely place) and the pews were filled! The whole school had come to see the year 6s perform some wonderful leaving poems and songs...

Some good news from the gardens: our gardeners Ben and Claire have been noticing that there are many more goldfinches at Hestercombe than usual. And rather incredibly for this people-shy species, one is even nesting in a standard rose on the Victorian Terrace! If you have a keen eye for bird spotting, then you may be able to just catch a glimpse on your next...

**First paper to pick up the skating story - The Western Daily Press. Have a look at their lovely photo here: WesternDailyPress And guess who's dressed as an elf?! "The new Face of Somerset, Megan Bessell, with Father Christmas, elves Helen Barsby and Emily McCoy, enjoy the Hestercombe Christmas Skating Rink near Taunton last night, where they were skating...

**Creative Director, Tim Martin, updates on what has been happening at Hestercombe Gallery.**: - Credit: Jem Southam, Winter Walks Three Ducks.In February this year, as part of the ‘Expanding Landscapes: Painting after Land Art’ exhibition programme, we held an event entitled ‘Landscape Resonances’, where co-curator Joy Sleeman explored the ‘after...

**SEDIMENT brings together three decades of work by celebrated German artist Mariele Neudecker. Landscape, the deep sea, the Arctic, environmental concerns and lockdown all have a presence in this major solo exhibition.**: - Image: Mariele Neudecker, We Saw It Coming All Along [1 & 2] 2019, (detail), mixed media on archive print on board. © the Artist-...

**Chapter Two: The Portman’s & the Church of St. Mary, Hestercombe** “I remember well how, when I came to St. Andrews (Taunton) in 1947, I was faced with a very large and run-down parish, & no curate... and no car. You can perhaps imagine how I thought when I was told that I was expected to take services for an old lady in her private chapel, which was...

**Memories of Hestercombe - The Portman Chapel - **_criticism from a variety of media & magazines..._** Characters that no reader will forget... prose as clean and strong as any Legate has yet laid down... and a drop-dead evocation of a time and place that will mark this article as a classic slice of Edwardiana - Prague Post The plot surges forward,...

The Hestercombe archives are bursting at the seams with facts, pictures and accounts of the history of Hestercombe and those who lived and worked here. In this installment of Memories of Hestercombe we hear about the Grand Ball which took place in January 1897 - and the star studded Taunton guest list in attendance. _Written by Kim Legate, Archivist_ - On...

**Welcome to the festive season!** We're now officially in the mood for Christmas after a very successful annual Christmas Market. Filled with beautiful stalls and friendly, local producers and craftspeople we were bursting at the seams with decorations, food and lots of lovely gift ideas. A great way to kick start the festive season. We’re now in a...

We’re celebrating Hestercombe Gallery’s second birthday this year and although it’s a relative youngster in the world of art, we couldn’t be prouder of what it’s already achieved. When the future of the house was being discussed in 2013, it was decided that with its history of landscape and artistic garden design, we needed to strengthen the bond...

Image: 'Quenanville as Antipode' (detail), slideshow + 11 digital prints, 2014_ **Simon Faithfull exhibition '**_Elsewhen_**' at Hestercombe Gallery, Taunton**: 9 March - 30 June 2019 A new exhibition by **Simon Faithfull** brings together a series of works which allow gallery visitors to orientate themselves in relation to places across the planet. Created...

**MEMORIES OF HESTERCOMBE: THE 1873-77 REMODELLING OF HESTERCOMBE HOUSE**: The moulded stone arch that frames the east entrance to the Gallery Shop, originally the Great Hall, probably formed part of the rear wall of the original, early medieval house at Hestercombe. By the late 17th century the increasingly substantial residence of the Warre family...