Riding to the rescue

The gardens at Dowdeswell Court, Gloucestershire The home of Julian Dunkerton and Jade Holland Cooper

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With only lawns and shrubberies remaining of the original gardens, their rejuvenation has taken a huge amount of thought and work but, says James AlexanderSinclair, the results are spectacular

AH... the Cotswolds. Shoals of perfect villages with stone the colour of a Californian suntan, rolling fields and fat cattle. Roads that pass between magnificently arched mature beech trees with their newly born, lettucecoloured leaves. Almost unbearably picturesque pubs crouch welcomingly on corners as we wander down narrow paths into deep wooded valleys and up again into the light of ridges and escarpments. In the distance, the Malvern Hills glint in the sunshine and feathery clouds flit over flocks of happy sheep.

You get the picture? Bucolic bliss at its best.

In the middle of all this sits a remarkable house and garden: Dowdeswell Court, which hovers on the side of a steep hill and has been the site of much activity over the centuries.

The same family lived here from about 1580 until 1900 and built the current house in the 1830s. In 1920, a new owner removed the top floor and, soon afterwards, the estate was requisitioned by the air ministry during the Second World War. Subsequently, echoing the fate of many similar properties, there was  a gentle decline as the grandeur faded and the gardens were overlooked and simplified.