Ralph Dutton believed the ancient oaks which can be seen in and around the car-park to be upward of 500 years old. In replanting the park, he was anxious that his own 'little plantations shall not develop into clumps, but into groups of trees. That is to say that each tree shall keep its natural form. This entails, of course, constant thinning, a few trees every year.' As he suspected, it has not been easy to achieve this effect, but it is discernible in some of the clumps.
The shady evergreen drive passes through a clay seam, which is slightly acid despite the underlying chalk. A number of rhododendrons are planted here, timed for successive flowering rather than a sea of colour. The subdued evergreen feel of this area is completed by plantings of Highclere hollies {Ilex x altaclarensis 'Camelliifolia'), Cephalotaxus, Podocarpus and Italian cypresses. The area to the south of the Drive has recently been replanted with more shade and acid loving plants. Only when the bend is reached does the mood lighten, as the house is revealed to the right and the North Vista to the left.
Framed by yew trees, a fine urn forms a focal point with discrete views into the North Park and beyond and overlooks the site of the Civil War, Battle of Cheriton (29 March 1644) from what were the Parliamentarian lines.
Created originally to replace a weed-infested herbaceous border, this area contains hardy Fuchsias, Agapanthns, Buddlejas, Hydrangea aspera (Villosa group) and a number of varieties of Hibiscus and Abelia for later display. It also sustains interest through the earlier part of the season with a show of daffodils, Potentillas, the beauty bush (Kolkwitzia) and scented Philadelphia. Later colours tend to be in the white, pink, purple and blue range. The area to the right of the iron gate was re-planted in the winter of 2020 to give more winter interest.
The espalier-trained apples and pears which line the central path, and the wall around the perimeter are the only remaining signs that this was once a highly productive kitchen garden, which provided food for the house from the 17th century. The walled garden was closed for twenty years, being the tenants private garden, and was opened to the public for the first time in 2006. It also saw the start of a three year restoration programme. The tennis court, in the north-west corner, was removed in the winter of 2006 and is now the vegetable garden. The swimming pool which was in front of the shop was filled in during the Summer of 2006 and grassed. The shop was opened in December 2006. All of the greenhouses have now been restored. The apple and pear trees either side of the main east west path were mostly planted between the 1860s and 1880s and alternate apple-pear-apple-pear-apple either side of the east-west path. Two new pear trees have been planted either side of the east gate to continue the line.
Ralph Dutton laid out this area on his father's croquet lawn: His comment sometime later was 'I am inclined to doubt whether he would consider it an improvement.' The bed of 'Iceberg' roses, now replaced with 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', gives it a certain symmetry, balancing the long rectangular pond in the centre. Nine different varieties of Water Lily are planted here, and a considerable number of goldfish and Golden Orfe thrive despite the green water, which seems to protect them from herons.
Together with the Main Terrace below, the plantings here were intended to provide 'a leafy and mellow-coloured podium from which the house rises'. Immediately under the house it is possible to grow a few slightly more tender plants than would survive elsewhere in this surprisingly cold, wet and windy garden. Plants include a selection of Abelias for late flower and scent, Hebe hulkeana and H. 'Hagley Park', various Phlomis, x Halimiocistus, Olearias and Salvias beneath climbers and wall shrubs such as Magnolia grandiflora, Azara microphylla, Buddleja macrostachya, Rosa banksea 'Alba', Solanum, Wisteria and Clematis 'Freckles'.
In Mr Dutton's day the paving was much more heavily planted, and photographs show him standing with guests ankle-deep in plants growing in gaps between the York stone slabs. The crevices have now been replanted with an interesting variety of carpeting plants and undemanding alpines, to leave a meandering plant-free walkway along its length.
Plants must be chosen carefully for this border, as it is not nearly as warm as the one under the house, because the soil consists in the main of heavy clay in the full face of the prevailing wind. The structure is provided by some relatively hardy smaller shrubs such as Philadelphus, Viburnum and Fuchsia, with some strategically placed slightly more tender types like Buddleja crispa. Planting spaces are also left for tender summer perennials, including argyranthemiims in profusion and a number of Penstemons and Verbenas. September flowering is particularly good here with some fine Hibiscus and Crinum amongst many other plants of interest.
This was the first area planned by Ralph Dutton in 1935, after his mother's Rose Garden, and is punctuated by the topiary which is such an identifying feature of Hinton Ampner. Once again, the soil here is very heavy, wet and cold in the winter, and the southerly aspect turns it from uncomfortably hot in the summer to exposed and windswept through the closed season. So it is difficult to support many of the plants which were once grown here. The raised beds now display Alliums for late-spring interest and an excellent selection of perennials for mid- and late-summer effect, with a range of Salvias, including the black-flowered S. discolor, the mauve and white S. leucantha, the delicate S. elegans and some imposing blue varieties at the back of the border.
The formal beds in the centre are traditionally filled with Dahlia 'Fascination' in the summer and a variety of tulips and forget-me-nots in the spring.
This perfectly straight path 180 metres long links the extremities of the garden from west to east. The shade cast by an avenue of 30 clipped Irish Yews changes the character of the west end of the walk through the day as the sun passes across the sky. The formal plantings of the Sunken Garden give a glimpse of colour at the half-way point on the walk, enticing you along, and as you stroll from one end to the other you will have passed no fewer than seven exit points leading in different directions, all of which are invisible from either end. Behind the Irish Yews lies the rose border, completed in 1954, but totally re-planted in 2005, now containing many types of rose to give an extended flowering season right up to early November.
Focal points are a marble statue of Diana against an Irish Yew and the sundial centred on an earlier beech tree in the park.
Access to the Park can be gained via the gates adjoining the cattle-grids at the west end of the Long Walk and at the top of the Lime Avenue.
The modesty of Mr. Dutton's design demands that the colourful South Border, with its roses, Buddleja alternifolia and Philadelphia under-planted with hardy geraniums and artemisias, should be screened from view by a hedge on the south side. He was as concerned to set his house and garden unobtrusively within the rural landscape as he was to make use of the setting from within the garden. Other plants of interest in this border include the large cream-flowered lilac, Syringa reticiilata var. mandschurica.
This was one of the last features to be finished, and allows an uninterrupted view across the countryside to the south. The semicircular design encourages you to look in all directions. From here you can also see how the Lime Avenue has been clumped to form three informal groups of trees. This presumably took place when the avenue ceased to serve as the main entrance with the demolition of the Tudor house in the 18th century. Almost half of the lime trees have now fallen and they will be replaced with saplings propagated from one of the existing healthy trees.
Built as a folly, gazebo and resting-place in the early 1950s, the Temple is rather awkwardly placed, as it tries to align itself not only with the east-west Long Walk, but also with the north-south axis of the entrance drive to the Tudor building. The focal point of the obelisk rewards the curious by giving views back to the house, which illustrate Mr. Dutton's concern to ensure that his garden appeared as an organic component of its surroundings. The borders here serve both as a wind-break and to provide pockets of colour throughout the season, as the many different shrubs flower and fade in turn. Feature plants are the smoke bushes (Cotinus}, Buddlejas, Kolkwitzias, Dipeltas, Philadeplhus and Viburnums in variety.
The lime trees retain the character of an avenue when seen from either end, despite having been clumped. This feature was incorporated into the garden during the Second World War at the request of the headmistress of Portsmouth High School, which had been evacuated here. It seems that the younger gardeners were proving too much of a distraction for her schoolgirls, and Mr. Dutton was encouraged to find a project for them away from the house. This request coincided happily with plans he already had for the area.
The soil here is relatively light compared with much of the garden, and although its original purpose was to provide a wind-break, there are some good lilacs here, a substantial stand of Phlomis russeliana, various Cistus and Hebes, as well as Buddleja x pikei 'Hever'.
Created in its present form as a replacement for Mr. Dutton's mother's persistently failing rose garden, this feature exhibits tulips and forget-me-nots in the spring in various colour schemes, usually chosen to be light and airy within the dark formality of the yew hedging. The-summer schemes mainly use dahlias bordered by low growing annuals and half-hardy perennials. The cutaway hedge frames the horse chestnut at the far end of the terrace, and in turn the tree is pruned into an arch over the statue, which is silhouetted against the sky. Turning to look down the steps in the opposite direction, the eye is led between the Irish Yews, over the gate, to a clump of Acer platanoides 'Schwedleri' in the distance, which provides a natural but constantly changing point of reference.
For a couple of all-too-short weeks in summer this path is filled with cascades of white Philadelphus nodding behind the tall box hedging. The muted tones and pleasant scents impart a great tranquillity to this walk.
Deliberately not signalled by any feature, the Dell was conceived as an intimate and separate space, differing in atmosphere from all the other areas of the garden.
The first attempts at a chalk garden of tender plants failed because this is a frost pocket. The subsequent scheme for a foliage garden also deteriorated over the years, as one of the feature plants was the dangerous Giant Hogweed, which was allowed to self-seed, rendering the borders unmaintainable. The restored garden of today consists of foliage plants, which are more manageable, and are planted and maintained higher up the banks than before. To retain the sense of tranquillity, the plants have been chosen to demonstrate great variety of shape, texture and form, but it remains a predominantly green oasis with few contrasts of foliage colour. Again, in keeping with Mr. Dutton's original planting and because of the isolated nature of this space, some of the colour scheme departs from his overall prescription for pastel shades. So here bright orange, red and gold punctuation marks can be seen at times from such plants as Ligularia 'Desdemona', Hemerocallis, Crocosmia 'Lucifer' and Inula magnifica. There is also a collection of Foxglove trees (Paulownia'), Rodgersias and some attractive grasses. Bold foliage effects are created by Rheums, Darmera peltata and Hostas, and a few carefully managed plants of Giant Hogweed have been retained. The 'Kiftsgate' and 'Lykkefund' roses are spectacular in flower and hip.
A narrow shady path provides the surprise of glimpses into the Dell from above, as well as containing some interesting plants, including Idesia polycarpa, the scented Viburnum 'Aurora', V. x carlcephalum and clipped box plants.
'At Hinton I am inclined to believe that the most attractive area is the sward of plain lawn lying between the church and the house with the tall jade-green stems of beech trees rising beyond it.'
This quotation is perhaps over-modest, but there is an attractive simplicity to this area which comes to life in spring when carpets of bulbs fill the long grass areas. The bed near the church is partly planted to provide winter and early season scent for the congregation of the church, and contains Sarcococcas, Daphnes, Hyacinths and the spectacular late-winter flowering Cornus mas.
All Saints parish church is originally Saxon. The chancel was rebuilt before 1822, and the nave by Ralph Dutton's grandfather in/the 1870s, when the French-style bell-tower was also added. Ralph Dutton and some of his ancestors are buried here.
The contrast between the precisely clipped formality of the hedging and the spring bulb area within is most marked in July, after the bulb foliage has died back, and just before the grass is cut. It typifies Mr. Dutton's preference for a formal structure softened with an informality of plantings behind. Early colour comes from species crocuses, followed by Narcissi with Anemone blanda and A. nemorosa. The white and pink cherries are followed by apple blossom, and cow parsley completes the spring season. Carpets of autumn-flowering Crocus speciosus bring the area back to life in late September. In the winter of 2015 twenty-two new apple trees were planted in The Orchard to improve and lengthen the spring blossom season.
On the relatively deep, slightly acid soil of this area plants are grown which would not tolerate the alkalinity of the rest of the garden. Here Ralph Dutton was able to construct a shady ericaceous woodland walk where Camellias, Azaleas, Eucryphias, Enkianthus, Pieris, Magnolias, Zenobia, Chionanthus and a number of Hydrangeas for later flowering can all be seen growing, creating a mood very different from the rest of Hinton Ampner.