This is a new addition to our garden. With too much time on my hands in Lockdown I felt it time for a new project!  Begun in the winter 2020/2021 it will hopefully be completed by 2026. The Inspiration came from a visit with my in-laws to the Japanese garden at The Chateau de Courances in 2008. I was struck by the colours, shapes, and sounds – it was just stunning and stuck with me ever since. Our new garden has been designed by Richard Taylor from Taylor Tripp. We have replaced the old ditch that was overgrown with nettles with a ‘burn-like stream’ which reminds me of my childhood home in Perthshire, Scotland. We have planted a cherry avenue and acer walk. The estate joiner crafted the beautiful red Nikko bridge, Torri arch and Moon gate. We have planted many roses, all with their historical origins in the Orient, and a few shaped cloud trees and small Japanese acers on the banks of the pond and stream. An irrigation system has been installed to keep the trees and roses watered: harvesting rainwater from the Apple Rooms roof and from little ‘baths’ that have been formed round each tree. We have dedicated the yew hedge, comprised of 170 plants, to the Queen’s Green Canopy ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’.

The statues of the goat and deer, made from bronze resin, have been created by artist Fred Clark and tells the story of why the goat and not the deer was chosen for the Chinese zodiac.

We formally opened the Oriental Garden in 2023 to coincide with the 230th anniversary of when Houghton Lodge and the garden were built and created. On Thursday 25^th May 2023, Charlie Dimmock, TV presenter and gardening expert officially opened this new part of the garden.

It has been an enormous project to create a complete new garden at Houghton: we look forward to sharing it with our visitors and watching it grow.