The Bournes originally came from Irland, so house and gardens were designes with many elements you would recognise belonging to an English Country Estate.
The house itself measures 4000sqm (!!!) and sits in 654acres of land, a big part of that being beautifully landscaped by various designers, architects and artists.
The house, the garden and the grounds were planned as one unit: the formal garden, starting with the terraces and the sunken garden, following the construction of the house. The entire garden was built between 1917 and 1929.
The strength of the garden's design is its long links to the house and its compartmentalized character defined by its hedges and walls. It remains remarkably preserved as one of the few surviving and best examples of an English Renaissance style garden. Despite to many of the original prototypes in England its design survived through out the years and can be visited now by the public.
You can now visit the Sunken Garden, the Walled Garden, the Rose Garden, the Knot Garden, the Dutch Garden, the Fruit Garden, the Meadow and various other places all located on about 10 acres. Although I was late for spring I could still take some beautiful pictures of spring flowers, the tulips were just about to leave.
Filoli Estate is a California State Historic Landmark and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
It was given to the National Trust by the second owner Mrs. Roth, so when you go into the house everything is still there as if she just went for a walk...
Ongoing events and exhibitions as well as new seasonal planting make this place worth a visit!
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You are right about the English look of the building and even the gardens. I would never have guessed this house was American. Thanks for visiting my Blog and surely Scotland isn't that cold.....is it brrrr.
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