Romantic garden with gothic tower and ruined abbey that looks straight out of a fairytale

Painshill Park in Cobham is a stunning 18th-century garden, with walks that feel as though you have just stepped into a painting. Built by politician Charles Hamilton between 1738 and 1773, the park features a crystal grotto, a gothic tower, and its very own vineyard.

During the nearly 300 years since its creation, the park became a favourite location for a number of Royals, including Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, and her daughters. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also made visits to the park in the 1840s.

Following restoration works on the park in the 70s and 80s, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Prince William have both attended events at Painshill. Other famous visitors include early American presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

The park was created by Charles to be a sort of 'living painting' with lakes, open parkland, and a number of ornamental buildings.

Gothic tower at Painshill Park

Inspired by numerous landscape paintings Charles Hamilton had everything from a crystal grotto to a Turkish tent, a gothic temple and a Temple of Bacchus, added to the land.

The latter of which he had used to house the statue of Bacchus, which he had brought back to England from one of his European Tours, no longer inside the temple this statue can now be seen outside of the gift shop.

While many of the elements of the park are for decoration, Charles also had a vineyard added, which produced its first wine in the 1750s. The vineyard was later removed and replaced with some rustic steps in 1903. However, it has since been turned back into a vineyard with grapes being planted once again in the 1990s.

In 1773, just one year after Charles's final creation, a ruined abbey, was added to the park, he was forced to sell the gardens to Benjamin Bond Hopkins due to an ever-increasing debt. While Benjamin largely kept Painshill the same, subsequent owners would continue to change the landscape.

Crystal grotto at Painshill Park

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the park's land was requisitioned by the military, after which it remained abandoned for a number of years and fell into ruin.

Eventually, restoration work began on the park after it was brought to public attention by Cobham historian David Taylor in the 1960s. In the 1980s restoration work began in earnest, with the gothic temple the first structure to be restored, quickly followed by the gothic tower and the ruined bbbey.

The Park Trust is currently crowdfunding the costs for restoration work on Painshill's Chinese Bridge.

Painshill Park is open daily 10am-6:00pm, although the Crystal Groto is closed on Mondays. Tickets can be booked online or purchased on the day, with prices starting at £6.00.

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