The gardens are truly magnificent, inspired planting.

A pleasant and attractive country estate in a slightly out of the way location, it seems they have gone rather more for the natural look in the gardens than the very formal look, with plenty of dead heads on the roses for example, as well as patches of nettles. Not that it looked a mess, just not quite as pristine and immaculate as one might expect. The main focus here seems to be the gardens and grounds, with a fairly limited selection of things to view in the house.

The formal gardens are immediately behind the house, and these are very pleasant to wander around, with water features running through them and an orchard at the rear. A type of cellar area at the end houses a water wheel, some old machinery and some information about the history of the work carried out here. At the front of the house are more extensive grounds that wind up a valley, with a couple of large lakes, a waterfall and various artefacts such as a witch’s house, mausoleum and a rustic seat, many of which also double up as great viewing points. The house itself has an art gallery upstairs, whilst downstairs the only two rooms that seem to be in use are an exhibition with boards dating the development and owners of the estate, and a shop. The shop was mostly focussed on craft items such as jewellery, rather than the more usual selection of food and drink products or gardening items.

The obligatory café was open without buying tickets to the gardens, and consisted of both an inside area (table service) and outside. The cake selection was a little unusual, if you’re after a Victoria Sponge or Millionaire’s Shortbread for example, you’ll be disappointed. We opted for the Cherry & Almond cake, and a Hummingbird cake. Both were a little on the small side, and the Hummingbird cake tasted rather too much of coconut, which I didn’t think was one of the usual ingredients. The cherry and almond cake though was very tasty and lovely and moist. I didn’t like the fact that they were served in disposable cartons like you might get a takeaway burger in, along with a plastic fork. Admittedly the carton said it was made of sugar cane and fully compostable, but there must still be an environmental cost to the production and transportation of it, and there was no compost bin to put it in when you’d finished, only mixed recyclables or rubbish! Really, what an earth is wrong with a plate that can be washed up?

Overall though, a very pleasant place to wander around and worth a visit.

Very pretty gardens and a great place for a relaxing walk with hood views. Did not have time to look around the house but did eat at the tea shop. Cakes are good as is the coffee but service is... adequate. Main site staff very helpful and friendly. Playground looks good but didn't bring kids. Not a dog person so don't care about that. Toilets clean.

Beautiful House & Gardens we did have fun there

Empfehlenswert.Badewanne muss man gesehen haben.

Lovely gardens to explore, house lacking furnishings.

Visited these gardens with friends, and were not disappointed. Part formal, part less so, in early summer everywhere is a delight to the eye. Gertrude Jekyll's hand is evident, and her style well maintained. Recommended.

Beautiful gardens and really good restaurant. The restaurant has a varied menu including vegetarian and vegan options. There is also a more casual cafe doing take away drinks and food. There is a small playground and plant shop. The house has a shop selling local crafts and has art exhibitions. The current exhibition wasn't to my taste.

Lovely

Little bit disappointed with our visit. Whilst the woodland walk is extensive (dogs allowed - great) the formal gardens are very limited and not a huge amount to see.

Lovely gardens to walk through, they look amazing.

Spent over four hours walking through the gardens and paths. Map does tell you which paths are easy or steep. On the steeper routes you get some really good view points. Seats dotted around to take a break.The scent from the roses was lovely. We had been advised that a wedding was taking place in the Orangery so it would be off limits for a while. Not a lot in the house . Staff friendly in the cafe. Enjoyed our pasties. Would recommend it to anyone who likes gardens formal and informal.

Breath-talking beauty in these wonderful gardens. Such vision by Lutyens and Jekyll...also, a very satisfying restaurant café well worth a stop. Great service. All in all, highly recommended for a visit here if you're in the area.

Nice day out, plenty of Gardens to walk in and a nice cafe/restaurant. Not over keen on the contemporary art gallery but we loved the formal Gardens and the follies in the grounds

I loved this place very relaxed

Beautiful day sun shining. Outstanding grounds and gardens. Good restaurant and cafe. Thoroughly enjoyed walking around.

It is vast and beautiful. Also very revisit able, never gets old.

Lovely gardens and walks around the estate. Dogs welcome on short leads. You can buy food to feed the fish and ducks (20p per bag). However, the swan likes the food too, so just be aware of their presence.
Terrain is hilly in places but it's all on a gravel /woodland path, however, not all paths are wheelchair/pushchair friendly.
Plenty of options to eat and prices are reasonable. We didn't go into the house so can't comment on that.
Adequate parking but from what I could see there were no charging points. There is a place to buy plants conveniently located by the car park.

Great gardens and grounds to amble through

The gardens are beautiful but there wasn't much to see in the house. I prefer house's that are furnished. This one was very empty.

Hestercombe is more than the fabulous Edwin Lutyens/Gertrude Jekyll designed formal garden abutting a magnificent south terrace - a lot more. Hestercombe owes
as much to Coplestone Warre Bampfylde who originally architected the site most of which is situated in a steep-sided valley. This provided the opportunity for ponds, waterfalls and winding paths through dense woodland, with viewing points cut through the trees to focus on a variety of follies and rolling landscapes
In addition all the staff we met were both helpful and knowledgable.
Don't forget to visit the House and llearn about its history.
It is definately worth a half day visit.

Nice and relaxing. Love the chickens 😅, couldn't get a pic with them though.

Beautiful gardens a lovely mix of wild and formal settings.
However for disabled visitors it is not so easy. The entrance via the cafe is dependent upon a member of staff being available to open a gate. One disabled lady was at first denied entry via the gate, staff said it wasn’t allowed!! There is a notice saying disabled access so clearly some staff training is needed. Only after 30 minutes was she finally allowed through. This isn’t good enough .

First time visit and what a lovely surprise. Beautiful formal gardens, combined with pretty woodland walk. Delicious sausage roll from the cafe and a well stocked plant shop. However, staff were overprotective of any area being used for a wedding in the afternoon, which took the edge off of what otherwise would have been a memorable visit. We will go again but, only after checking there aren’t any weddings that day.

Lovely gardens great walks 🚶‍♀️ house interior nothing special but outside quite striking