Dartington Gardens
The Gardens at Dartington are steeped in history; a monument to the vision and enterprise of the great families who have owned it. Dartington originated in the 1390s when John Holand, the half brother to King Richard II, created a mediaeval manor house on the hillside overlooking the river Dart.
Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, an American heiress and her English husband, took over Dartington with the aim of creating both a home and a unique experiment in rural regeneration, education and the arts.
They repaired and reconstructed the dilapidated historical buildings, built new properties on the estate and worked with a series of landscape designers – clearing the tangle of overgrowth and moving away from rigid Victorian design to reveal the great trees, shapes and curves of the landscape.
Source: https://www.dartington.org/visit/explore/about-the-gardens/
