The Caterpillar Frame to the Kitchen Garden

I visited The Newt in its previous incarnation – Hadspen House to see the garden of Nori and Sandra Pope. It was a large parabolic herbaceous border, set against a high brick wall and on a steepish slope, and I was astounded by the innovative planting. Their subsequent best seller, entitled ‘Colour by Design’, had a huge influence on me and I’m sure on other garden designers. I was sorry when the garden closed and the Popes moved back to Vancouver.

Hadspen House

However, Babylonstoren in Cape Province is undoubtedly my favourite productive garden and so when its owners bought Hadspen House and estate, rechristening it ‘The Newt’, and threw a huge amount of money at it, my, and others expectations were incredibly high. The same designer as Babylonstoren, Patrice Taravella, was commissioned for the main garden. The house has subsequently become one of England’s most luxurious and fashionable country hotels and garden areas and lawns around it are reserved for the hotel guests.

The Colour Gardens – The White Garden

So, high expectations, but also some reservations. My visit was in mid-August, the hottest and driest summer for 50 years. This is a formidable challenge for any garden, but one that other large gardens I have visited over the last four weeks have successfully managed.

The Victorian Fragrance Garden and Cascade

As a jaded garden visitor, the thing I am looking for is something unique and exceptional that marks a garden out. It could be stunning planting (like the Popes’), an innovative style of planting, wonderful formal design, a fabulous seasonal planting of dahlias, just something beautiful or interesting done incredibly well.

View from The Long Walk to The Parabola

The garden at The Newt tries to cover all the bases – Japanese Garden, Winter Garden, Cottage Garden, Colour Gardens, Four Seasons Garden, Kitchen Garden and not to mention the Roman Villa Experience and its Roman-inspired gardens (designed by Urquhart and Hunt). The scale of The Newt places it in a different category to typical country gardens. A fair comparison is with the Royal Horticultural Gardens, or the Crown Estate’s Savill Garden who have similar resources. The garden has a 40 strong gardening team, divided into seven specialist teams.

The Kitchen Garden

To my mind, the one remarkable feature of The Newt is the geometric maze of over 330 varieties of apple cultivars (malus domestrica) in the north-eastern half of the parabola, trained into cordons, espaliers, ‘belgian fences’, tunnels and arches. It is a curiousity but not one I found aesthetically pleasing. It is difficult to make a maze work on a sloping site. In the fields leading down to the farm and the somewhat isolated Four Seasons Garden are very extensive orchards of different varieties of apple trees. In a county renowned for its ciders, it is heartening to see newly planted orchards, and The Newt produces a range of its own different ciders.

The Four Seasons Garden

In my mind, it is better to do one thing well than a dozen things moderately well. Someone called The Newt a ‘garden theme park with a Roman villa’, perhaps a bit harsh, but with a grain of truth.

Worth visiting? Yes. Over-hyped? Yes. Manage your expectations.

RJ – 18 August 2026

Garden Details:
Website: thenewtinsomerset.com
Address: The Newt, Bruton, Somerset, BA7 7NG
Café: The Garden Café, The Hive Café, Gelateria, Seasonal Snack Van
Dogs: No dogs allowed on the estate.
Disabled Access: Good. The Farmyard, Four Seasons Garden and Roman Experience can be accessed by electric buggie.
Opening Times: 9.00 – 6.00pm spring and summer
9.00 – 4.30 pm autumn and winter
Booking: On-line