Painswick Rococo Gardens & Places to Stay Nearby

The Cotswolds and Forest of Dean Tourism Team hosted a ‘Leaflet Exchange Workshop’ at Painswick Rococo Gardens this month. The workshop allowed local tourism affiliates to swap and pick up leaflets, meet the Cotswolds and Forest Tourism team and network with other businesses such as Cheltenham hotels in the industry. The Holiday Inn Express Cheltenham management team attended the event and discovered the hidden beauty that is Rococo Gardens.
The event included a tour of the garden itself, and this Cheltenham hotel took a fascinating step back to a flamboyant and sensual period of English Garden Design. This gem of a garden, which was originally laid out in the early 18th century, is set in a hidden Cotswold valley with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside.

The Story of the Garden
Painswick House was built in the mid 1730’s. It’s owner, the asthma suffering, Charles Hyett came to Painswick to escape the smog of Gloucester and named his new house ‘Buenos Ayres’. Sadly this move was not enough and he died soon after the House was completed. It was his son, Benjamin, who created the fanciful Garden in a hidden valley behind the House.
Fortunately Benjamin asked a local artist, Thomas Robins, to paint the Garden in 1748. Without this wonderful representation we would have had no idea what the Garden looked like originally as in the 1970s it was an overgrown jungle.
It was in the 1970’s that Garden Historians became very interested in the period of Garden Design between 1720 and 1760. It was a time of great change and gardens became very frivolous, they were a place for garden parties, somewhere for Georgian folk to let their hair down. These Garden Historians named the period Rococo.
Their pursuit of a Rococo Garden brought them to restore the jungle into the beautiful garden that is here today at Painswick. Their encouragement led Lord Dickinson, a descendant of Charles Hyett, to begin an ambitious programme of work. In 1988 he handed control of that programme to Painswick Rococo Garden Trust and granted the Trust a long lease of the Garden.

The Holiday Inn Express Cheltenham Review
“As one of the newest hotels in Cheltenham, we endeavour to work closely with local affiliates and tourist attractions, to help stimulate travel to Cheltenham and The Cotswolds. Our visit to the Roccoco Gardens enabled us to network with other hotels in Cheltenham, as well as meet key mangers from The Cotswolds and Forest of Dean team. The purpose of the visit was to also see these beautiful gardens and to get to know more about what Cheltenham and the Cotswolds have to offer. Many of our guests seek more diverse things to do and see when they come and stay with us, and as a central hotel in Cheltenham we pride ourselves in continuing to supporting local tourism.” – The Holiday Inn Express Cheltenham Management Team

For more information about the Rococo Gardens call 01452 813204 to request a brochure.