Hare Hill
Encyclopedia
Hare Hill is a country house and a garden in the parish of Over Alderley
, Cheshire
, England. The house is privately owned, and the garden is in the care of the National Trust
.
. It was extended and remodelled in the middle of the 19th century for the Brocklehurst family. The house is constructed in red brick and has Welsh slate
roofs. The architectural style is Georgian
. It has two storeys, and the east front has three bays
. Along the whole of the east front, and extending to the south front, is a continuous verandah
carried on cast iron
Chinoiserie
supports. It is decorated with a frieze
and has a tented glass roof
. On the south side of the house is a porch with a hipped roof
and wooden Tuscan
columns. The house has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II listed building.
, plus azalea
s, hollies
, and hosta
s. At its centre is a walled garden containing a pergola
and wire sculptures. A path leads from the garden to the ridge of Alderley Edge. The garden is open to the public at advertised times; there is an admission charge.
The garden was owned by Col. Charles Brocklehurst until his death in 1981. Col. Brocklehurst was advised by the plantsman, James Russell. The Georgian mansion was sold by the Trust in 1978 to help finance the running of the gardens. The owner of the garden was a great rhododendron enthusiast and steadily introduced them into the garden from 1960 onwards. The climate and soil has allowed them to flourish here. The Trust has replaced many of the common purple variety with more colourful and exotic varieties and has extended the season for visiting the garden by planting roses, lacecaps, euchryphia and hydrangeas, although the early interest is already sustained by snowdrops, daffodils, a huge clematis montana, Skunk Cabbage and magnolia. The walled garden with its numerous climbers features a large lawn sadly without a centrepiece. The main feature of the garden however is the collection of over 50 hollies, silver and golden leaved and yellow and orange berried varieties, including the rare Highclere holly.
Over Alderley
Over Alderley is a civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It has a population of 335.St Catherine's Church, Over Alderley is a Grade II* listed building, and Birtles Hall is listed Grade II....
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England. The house is privately owned, and the garden is in the care of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
House
The house was built in about 1800 for William Hibbert of Birtles HallBirtles Hall
Birtles Hall is a country house in the parish of Over Alderley, Cheshire, England. It was built in about 1819 for Robert Hibbert. The interior of the house was badly damaged by fire in 1938, and it was reconstructed by the Arts and Crafts architect James Henry Sellers. The exterior is constructed...
. It was extended and remodelled in the middle of the 19th century for the Brocklehurst family. The house is constructed in red brick and has Welsh slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roofs. The architectural style is Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
. It has two storeys, and the east front has three bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
. Along the whole of the east front, and extending to the south front, is a continuous verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
carried on cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie, a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", and pronounced ) refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences...
supports. It is decorated with a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
and has a tented glass roof
Tented roof
A tented roof is a type of roof widely used in 16th and 17th century Russian architecture for churches. It is like a polygonal spire but differs in purpose in that it is typically used to roof the main internal space of a church, rather than an auxiliary structure...
. On the south side of the house is a porch with a hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
and wooden Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
columns. The house has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II listed building.
Garden
The wooded garden contains over 70 varieties of rhododendronRhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
, plus azalea
Azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...
s, hollies
Holly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
, and hosta
Hosta
Hosta is a genus of about 23–45 species of lily-like plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, native to northeast Asia. They have been placed in their own family, Hostaceae ; like many 'lilioid monocots', they were once classified in the Liliaceae...
s. At its centre is a walled garden containing a pergola
Pergola
A pergola, arbor or arbour is a garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained...
and wire sculptures. A path leads from the garden to the ridge of Alderley Edge. The garden is open to the public at advertised times; there is an admission charge.
The garden was owned by Col. Charles Brocklehurst until his death in 1981. Col. Brocklehurst was advised by the plantsman, James Russell. The Georgian mansion was sold by the Trust in 1978 to help finance the running of the gardens. The owner of the garden was a great rhododendron enthusiast and steadily introduced them into the garden from 1960 onwards. The climate and soil has allowed them to flourish here. The Trust has replaced many of the common purple variety with more colourful and exotic varieties and has extended the season for visiting the garden by planting roses, lacecaps, euchryphia and hydrangeas, although the early interest is already sustained by snowdrops, daffodils, a huge clematis montana, Skunk Cabbage and magnolia. The walled garden with its numerous climbers features a large lawn sadly without a centrepiece. The main feature of the garden however is the collection of over 50 hollies, silver and golden leaved and yellow and orange berried varieties, including the rare Highclere holly.