'I have learnt during the past years what above all I want from a garden: this is tranquillity.'
Ralph Dutton, A Hampshire Manor (1968)
Hinton Ampner as you see it today was created quite recently, and very largely by one man - Ralph Dutton. Defying the chalky, alkaline soil and exposed setting, he brought together landscape, garden, house and collection to form a sensitive and unified whole that was very much in the 18th-century tradition, albeit on a modest scale. But in laying out the garden in the 20th century, he had a much greater variety of plants at his disposal than his 18th-century predecessors, relying particularly on the expertise of the famous Hampshire nursery, Hillier's. He preferred their colouring to be in a low key, avoiding harsh contrasts. It is by a carefully considered marriage of modern gardening, neo-Georgian building and Neo-classical furnishings that he achieved his vision of tranquillity.
He began by planting trees in the parkland in the early 1930S, skillfully accentuating the modest undulations of the landscape, and creating splendid views before there was a true focus for them. He followed this by laying out the Sunken Garden in 1935 and so channelling the main view from the house into the South Park, before ultimately rebuilding his grandfather's Victorian pile to exploit these features. The Sunken Garden effectively conceals the bounds and at the same time bisects the east-west axis, which spans the breadth of the site and is centred on two trees which predate the garden.
On either side of this Long Walk, borders were planted over the years. During the Second World War the Lime Avenue, dating back to about 1720 was brought into the scheme of the garden, and the planting of substantial shrub-rose borders was inspired by a visit to Sissinghurst in 1950. Another feature which he adapted was the Dell, a chalk-pit which, although first brought into the garden between the wars was not incorporated into the overall design until after the Second World War. It proved very difficult to plant and maintain, and probably reached its best only after restoration in 1991.
Despite modestly describing himself as 'not a very knowledgeable plantsman', Ralph Dutton knew a great deal about the history of horticulture, as is clear from his book The English Garden, published in 1937, only two years after he inherited Hinton Ampner. It is not surprising, then, that he should have assimilated contemporary influences, nor that he should have been able to adapt them so skilfully. He learned quickly from a failed attempt to replicate in the Dell the style of planting he had seen in Sir Edward Stern's chalk garden at Highdown. He also created a series of linked areas with subtly different atmospheres similar to the garden 'rooms' of Hidcote and Sissinghurst. However, despite the superb formal structure defined.by the hedges and topiary, Mr Dutton never sought to confine the visitor in compartments, but preferred to lead his guests gently from mood to mood, manipulating them imperceptibly:
'My constant intention ... has been to make the garden "flow" so that a visitor is led on from point to point, and vistas, long or short, come here and there into view.'