Hoole House Lady Broughton

HOOLE HOUSE, the Rev. PEPLOE W. HAMILTON; occupied by LADY BROUGHTON. HOOLE is a residence situated about two miles from the city of Chester, on the road to Liverpool. The extent is between twenty and thirty acres, which are arranged as a farm, lawn, kitchen-garden, and flower-garden. The latter has been by far the most celebrated garden of the kind in that part of the country for the last ten years; and, as will shortly appear, it is in design altogether unique. We saw Hoole in 1831, and were exceedingly desirous of giving some account of it in our tour published at that time in the Gardener's Magazine (see Vol. VII. p. 513. 543. and 551.); but, as it is strictly a private residence, and not shown to any person whatever without permission, except to the friends of Lady Broughton, we could not then prevail on Her Ladyship to accede to our wishes. Having in January last seen at Mr. Lonsdale, the eminent artist's, some exquisitely beautiful water-colour drawings (by Mr. Pickering of Chester) of the flower-garden and rock fence at Hoole, we could not resist the temptation of renewing our application to Lady Broughton, for permission to take engravings of them for publication. To this Her Ladyship very reluctantly consented, being unwilling to give publicity to her place; but, having consented, she permitted us to employ a land-surveyor to take a general plan of the garden, and also sent us some original plans and elevations made by Mr. Harrison of Chester, the late celebrated architect, for constructing a veranda, a geranium-house, a conservatory, and green-house, all connected with the living-rooms of the house. We have now, therefore, to express our sincere thanks to Lady Broughton for acceding to our request, and for enabling us to gratify our readers with some account of the flower-garden at Hoole; and, while we do this, we feel it right to express our anxious hope that the additional publicity which we are now giving to this unique place may not induce any one to endeavour to break through a rule rendered necessary to the comfort of Lady Broughton, in consequence of the living-rooms being close upon the garden and opening into it. [Editor's Note: Hoole House was on the corner of Hoole Road and Piper's Lane in Chester, near the A56 A41 roundabout)