Garden History
A hotel 800 years in the making
The history of Goldstone Hall starts from the middle ages. A family with the name De Goldestan appear to have been on the site before 1180 and the Goldstones of Goldstone owned estates here until the 18th Century when Edward Pegg built a new house at Goldstone, on or alongside the site of the Goldstone family’s Elizabethan manor house. This (along with its additions) is the present Goldstone Hall.
Helen and Charles Ward bought the house in 1978 as a private home. In 1983, two years after Charles’ death, Goldstone Hall Hotel began. The idea came from Helen’s friend, Ruth Rae at their weekly yoga class within the Goldstone Walled Garden.
The Goldstone garden’s foundations are due to the vision and drive of one woman – Helen Ward. Initially conceived by Helen, she transformed the wilderness that was into the award-winning garden it is today. The garden is testimony to her passion and fascination of collecting all sorts of seeds and plants and finding just the right spot for them to thrive and grow.
Latterly she toured, in her golf buggy, the grounds several times a day and knew every square inch of the garden.
It is a passion she passed to her son John Cushing. Not only is he fascinated with the unusual crops we can grow in our vegetable garden but also always considering how guests can enjoy more and more of our 5 acre plot.
Nick Huxley, Head Gardener for over 10 years and who came to us from the award winning Wollerton Old Hall Garden, turned the Goldstone’s kitchen garden into the extensive plot it now is.
The gardens have been designed for pollination, cultivation, relaxation, enjoyment and are the perfect setting for admiring the well thought out planting followed by afternoon tea, a game of croquet or perhaps a special celebration.
