Garden programme

[AliJ]

About a year or so ago I saw a programme which was something like Britains 10 best gardens to visit. On it was a garden with a large lake and next to it a small cavern with a sort of porthole that looked over the surface of the lake. To get to the cavern there were 2 routes through the gardens. One was a steep route called something like the path through pergatory and the other was the easy way called something like the path to Hades. Does anyone know the garden I'm describing and where it is as I would love to visit it.

[Jules001]

is this the one? http://www.aboutbritain.com/Brantwood.htm although it does just mention the path to Purgatory, it doesn't mention any of the other things

[AliJ]

This does look like it could be the one although it doesn't mention the lakeside room, the rest does look familiar. Thank-you.

[drragon]

This was probably "Mellors Gardens" the gardens laid out by one James Mellor in the 19th century and based on the book "The Pilgrim's Progress". It is or was in Rainow in Cheshire and I used to live more or less next door to it. I'm not sure if the new owners have kept it going as the Pilgrim's Progress garden and it only used to be open to the public once or twice a year.

James Mellor was an eccentric inventor and preacher and, apart from laying out the garden, did a lot of stone carving. He set up a marker stone in the wilds of the hills above Rainow to commemorate the death of a man in a snowstorm. The inscription reads:

Here John Turner
Was cast away
In a heavy snow
Storm in the night
In or about the year
1755
The print of a woman's shoe
Was found by his side
Where he lay dead

If you are interested, there is a novel based on the story behind this stone. It is by Alan Garner and called "Thursbitch"

[drragon]

This was probably "Mellors Gardens" the gardens laid out by one James Mellor in the 19th century and based on the book "The Pilgrim's Progress". It is or was in Rainow in Cheshire and I used to live more or less next door to it. I'm not sure if the new owners have kept it going as the Pilgrim's Progress garden and it only used to be open to the public once or twice a year.

James Mellor was an eccentric inventor and preacher and, apart from laying out the garden, did a lot of stone carving. He set up a marker stone in the wilds of the hills above Rainow to commemorate the death of a man in a snowstorm. The inscription reads:

Here John Turner
Was cast away
In a heavy snow
Storm in the night
In or about the year
1755
The print of a woman's shoe
Was found by his side
Where he lay dead

If you are interested, there is a novel based on the story behind this stone. It is by Alan Garner and called "Thursbitch"

[drragon]

This was probably "Mellors Gardens" the gardens laid out by one James Mellor in the 19th century and based on the book "The Pilgrim's Progress". It is or was in Rainow in Cheshire and I used to live more or less next door to it. I'm not sure if the new owners have kept it going as the Pilgrim's Progress garden and it only used to be open to the public once or twice a year.

James Mellor was an eccentric inventor and preacher and, apart from laying out the garden, did a lot of stone carving. He set up a marker stone in the wilds of the hills above Rainow to commemorate the death of a man in a snowstorm. The inscription reads:

Here John Turner
Was cast away
In a heavy snow
Storm in the night
In or about the year
1755
The print of a woman's shoe
Was found by his side
Where he lay dead

If you are interested, there is a novel based on the story behind this stone. It is by Alan Garner and called "Thursbitch"

[Canary96]

The garden you are refering to is Stourhead. It was shown on Channel Four's Britain's Top Ten Gardens . The garden was built by wealthy banker Henry Hoare in the 18th century. The garden is in Wiltshire and is owned by the National Trust. For more information see :- http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/scripts/nthandbook.dll?A CTION=PROPERTY&**********=324