Page 4 - cn - fg A Sense of Place pb -2026

Mapperton House and its 2000 acre working estate, is the home of the Earl and Countess of Sandwich. The family moved to Dorset
from East Anglia in 1956. The original house was built in 1540 by Robert Morgan and his wife Mary.
The grand Italianate Garden at Mapperton descends a steep combe with its natural north-south orientation was created by
Ethel Labouchere who purchased the house in 1919 from the Compton family.
As a memory to her late husband the garden was envisaged and laid out in the then fashionable Italian School popularised by the
designer Harold Peto. Ethel had a passion for bird and animal statuary and acquired a collection that was placed throughout the
grounds, these are now covered with the patina of moss and lichen.
The garden leads through a series of elaborately designed terraces; the Fountain Court continues on a lower level toward two long
rectangular reflective pools, flanked with yew topiary.

This view was painted from a viewpoint that separates the two pools, where an ornamental urn and four presiding sentinel birds

Stand. Beyond the second pool, steps lead further down the combe to the arboretum and spring garden.
The evening light merges the shapes and contours of the garden and a stillness pervades, providing a timeless moment which can
be perceived before the day departs, whilst the roses give off their last glow.

FG 142130

Mrs Labouchere’s Italianate Gardens,
Evening Light, Mapperton House , Dorset
Oil on Canvas 50 1/8 x 70 1/4 inches