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Last updated on 21 July 10

Rousham House and Garden

  4.6/5 (11 ratings)

Gardenvisit Editorial

Rousham is the purest example of an Augustan landscape garden, designed by William Kent on a framework made by Charles Bridgeman in the 1720s. One's first Roman encounter is with statues recalling the Imperial games: a lion mauls a horse and a gladiator dies with restrained agony. A path leads into the woods and the Venus Vale, with statues of Pan, a faun, and Venus, from whom Caesar claimed descent. A sweetly serpentine rill flows in a stone channel from the Cold Bath into the Venus Vale. In another glade, a Temple overlooks the River Cherwell. The terrace overlooming the river is named the Praeneste after the ancient temple complex in the modern town of Palestrina outside Rome.
Address - Steeple Aston, Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, OX25 4QU
Opening times - All year. Daily. Open 10am to 6pm (last admission at 4.30 pm or dusk if earlier). Rousham House is only open by prior arrangement - please visit Rousham's web site (www.rousham.org) for information on how to book a tour of the house.
Admission - £5
Website - Visit the Rousham House and Garden website

Designers and Influences

This garden has been designed and influenced by William Kent, Charles Bridgeman

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Reviews and Comments

Have you visited this garden?

  • 9 months ago Gary Webb said

    I enjoyed a September Saturday visit in warm sunshine. The garden was peaceful, only after midday did any number of other visitors arrive with colourful picnics to adorn the lawns around the ponds.
    A very intimate garden for sure, with shaded walks, cool pools and an exquisite rill, a garden for the hot summer months for sure. The countryside view to the ruin on a distant hill is there, but I found the garden itself more than enough to keep my eyes occupied, especially with the beautiful garden buildings and statuary.
    One of the prettiest early to mid 18th century gardens to visit, and very well cared for.

    (4.0/5)
  • about 2 years ago Selina Botham - Garden designer said

    You feel a bit like you are sneaking a peak at a private garden when you visit Rousham and this adds somehow to the treat... I think this is mainly because there is no one to welcome you and take your money instead there is a ticket machine. You just follow the signs and turn the corner...
    The first area you come to is definitely for the men - it's a large, impressive, square, front lawn which perfectly frames the house and means the full magnificence of the house is visible from far away.
    A series of arches in hedges and walls then leads you along and out into a walled garden which is bursting with ancient fruit trees, all in flower when I visited. Set against a backdrop of old red brick and blue sky what a picture.
    This is just for starters and there is so much more to discover, including rich wildlife, we watched newts feeding in the pool, and a rather grown up calf noisily suckling just yards away from us. It was a beautiful experience and felt like a weeks holiday.

    (4.0/5)
  • over 2 years ago Richard said

    beautiful gardens

    (5.0/5)
  • almost 3 years ago Tom said

    Could you clarify re pronunuciation. I read that: "Rousham" is stressed on the former half ("ROUsh'm"), and pronounced as in "row", meaning uproar ("Last night there was an awful row upstairs")
    With regard to 'Augustan' it is used to mean 'the landscape of the Augustan Age' rather than to mean 'Imperial'

    (5.0/5)
  • almost 3 years ago Robert Holden said

    Rousham (pronounced Rowsh-ham according to the family) is interesting as a small formal landscape garden (very un Augustus-like by the way, it is friendly, and intimate in design terms not at all imperial) with avenues and straight lines interleaved with winding paths. It is arranged for views to the surrounding countryside: in Chinese terms it "borrows' the landscape.

    (5.0/5)

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