Hascombe Court
Coordinates: 51°9′1.54″N 0°34′56.81″W / 51.1504278°N 0.5824472°W Hascombe Court is a 172-acre (70 ha) estate in Hascombe, Surrey, best known for its vast garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll.
Historical Development
In 1906 Robert E A Murray, a descendant of the Duke of Atholl, employed the architect J D Coleridge to build him a house in a woodland clearing on a plateau above the village of Hascombe. In 1910 Murray died, and subsequently G E B Kennedy bought the house. By 1912 the house remained largely surrounded by woodland, into which had been set to the north the kitchen garden, with, to the north-east, an orchard.
By 1916 a further clearing had been formed to the south of the house, from which a long vista extended south into the woodland. A field to the east had been planted up as parkland, with scattered clumps of trees and singles. Kennedy died in 1921.
- Gertrude Jekyll
The property was bought by Sir John Jarvis, 1st Baronet, who employed Gertrude Jekyll in 1922 to extend the garden (Plans, NMR), working with the architect C Clare Nauheim. In 1928-9 Sir John employed Percy Cane to extend the garden further, and some of Jekyll's features appear to have been overlain by Cane's work. Cane produced a plan of around 1928, from which the names of the garden compartments have been taken and used in this description. Sir John Jarvis died in 1951. It was later owned by Claude Chapman Jacobs, a retired ship broker who died in 1972.
Present day
The property was subsequently sold but has since remained in private ownership. It was owned by the broadcaster and television presenter Chris Evans, until sold to Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky who, in turn, sold it to Ron Dennis, the boss of Formula One racing team, McLaren F1. [1]