Iford Manor Gardens

About

Tucked away at the bottom of a tranquil valley, just 15 minutes from Bath, a visit to the romantic, award-winning, Grade I listed Iford Manor Garden transports you as the garden design blends Italian, Byzantine, Ancient Roman and Oriental garden inspirations, together with architecture and classical sculpture.

Paths twist and turn around ancient statues, columns, terraces and architecture which, combined with ebullient planting schemes, draw you on in anticipation of the next delight. After each step a new view is revealed, allowing visitors to marvel at the clever nature and beauty of the design. Steeped in history and located on the last hill of the Cotswolds, with the Wiltshire/ Somerset border running through the garden itself, visitors often say a visit to Iford Manor Garden is like stepping into another, timeless world.

Dating back to the Domesday Book, the gardens seen today were largely designed by renowned Edwardian landscape architect Harold Peto, who lived at Iford from 1899 – 1933. Over the past 50 years today's owners, the Cartwright-Hignett family, have lovingly restored the garden and continued to develop it, including finishing the Japanese Garden, extending the woodland walks and redesigning areas of the garden as they age. Head Gardener Steve Lannin is working closely with the family to continue the garden’s journey, ensuring it can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Regularly providing design inspiration to many, the garden often features in international publications and in film, most recently in The Secret Garden (2020). A visit to Iford Manor Gardens should leave you feeling refreshed, uplifted and inspired.

Dog-Friendly

Well behaved dogs on leads are most welcome at Iford - in the beautiful Grade 1 listed gardens, as well as the award-winning restaurant Iford Manor Kitchen, or the adjacent cafe.

Tours

Take a behind-the-scenes your of the walled gardens, the veg garden and cutting garden. Find out more

Serves locally sourced, homemade food to garden visitors and walkers alike. Enjoy lunch in the restaurant for a true culinary treat, or pop to the café for a lighter bite from the Iford Bakery.

Subscribe to their newsletter for updates and visit Iford Manor Gardens website for the latest information, news and events.

Book online via their website to guarantee entry and to benefit from reduced advance purchase tickets.

Sustainability

Our aim is to be a net energy supplier: producing more energy from our various solar arrays and our hydroelectricity plant, than we use.

We farm the valley with extensive grazing, trapping carbon in the ancient grasslands and wildflower meadows. We also manage our ancient woodlands carefully. Our practices support diverse ecosystems with many rare species resident on the Iford Estate. In particular, our farming supports our Greater Horseshoe bat maternity roost (3rd largest in the UK), which is reliant on cow dung to attract the dung beetle; the preferred food for their babies.

Our café and restaurant operate a ‘nose to tail’/ ‘root to flower’ policy to ensure all parts are used, wherever safe to do so. This minimises food waste. We rear, grow and forage from our farm and garden to supply the Kitchen. All other produce is locally and ethically sourced, with food freshly prepared in-house.

Garden visitors are invited to contribute towards the costs of tree-planting here, to offset the carbon from their journey to Iford.

Our wildlife-friendly garden uses compost made on site, manure and sheep wool from the farm and more.

We try to ensure that everything on the Estate is integrated and reused wherever possible, with minimal use of plastics.

Opening times

1st October - 31st March 
Open Friday - Sunday 
Cafe: 10am - 3:30pm
Restaurant: 11:30am - 2pm

1st April- 30th September 
Open Wednesday- Sunday & BH Mondays
CLOSED Saturday 6th May for the Coronation 
Cafe: 10am - 4:30pm
Restaurant (lunch only): 11:30am - 3pm