Castle Hill Gardens

Castle Hill Gardens is a historic landscape garden at Filleigh in North Devon, between Barnstaple and South Molton. It surrounds the home of the Fortescue family and is best enjoyed as a walk through a designed setting, where buildings and views matter as much as individual plants.

The garden is laid out on the slopes of a valley, and the main pleasure is in the way follies and temples are placed to be seen from the house and from one another. Look for the triumphal arch on the hillside facing the house and the sham castle on the skyline that gives the estate its name. Between them, paths lead through woodland and past water, revealing new views as you go. In spring the woodland is the place for flowering shrubs, which is when the garden gives its most colourful display.

For home gardeners the lessons here are about framing views and using a single feature to lift a scene. Even in a small plot, a bench, arch or urn placed at the end of a path can do the same job as one of Castle Hill's follies, drawing the eye and giving a walk a purpose. Some routes in a garden like this involve slopes and grass paths, so wear sturdy shoes and allow time to stop and look back at the views. The house is a private family home, and parts of the estate are also used for weddings and events, so check before you go that the garden is open on the day you plan to visit.