Sezincote
The entrance to Sezincote is up a dark avenue of holm oaks that opens into an English park of Reptonian influence with fine trees and distant views of the rolling Cotswold hills. The name Sezincote is itself derived from ‘chêne’, French for oak, and ‘cot’ for dwelling. It literally means the ‘home of the oaks’. Yet despite this somewhat romanticised English introduction, nothing will quite prepare you for what you find at Sezincote. As it is, in fact, a Mughal Indian palace created in 1805 by the nabob Sir Charles Cockerell.
The house fell into a state of decline during the second World War when it was rescued by Sir Cyril and Lady Betty Kleinwort. Once the structure was restored, Lady Kleinwort turned to Graham Stuart Thomas, the leading horticulturist and rosarian of the day, for planting advice. The partnership between Thomas and Sezincote would officially last for 30 years.
SEZINCOTE GARDENS
There are two main gardens at Sezincote, the formal Persian canal garden beside the house, and a more informal stream garden near the entrance to the grounds. In 1964, after a visit to the Taj Mahal, Lady Kleinwort established the Persian Garden of Paradise using hardy fastigiate yews to achieve the right look. The Persian Garden is framed by the iconic orangery with its peacock motifs which blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space.
Sezincote remains a delightfully alluring and exotic garden enveloped by the bucolic Cotswolds countryside. It has been handed down within the Kleinwort family and remains a much-loved family home to this day.



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Images credit: Eliza Ford
Sudeley Castle
Nearby Gardens


