West Green House

The house was built in the early 18th century,{{NHLE |num=1242807 |desc=West Green House |accessdate=12 February 2015}} by General Henry Hawley, who led the cavalry charge at the Battle of Culloden.{{cite book |author=Patrick Keiller|title=Robinson in Space: And a Conversation With Patrick Wright |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG1lgCyA19gC&pg=PA11 |accessdate=6 January 2013|year=1999 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-86189-028-3 |pages=11–}}

At the beginning of the 20th century the Playfair family employed the architect Robert Weir Schulz to remodel the north front of the house and to design new gardens.{{cite web| url=http://www.sisley.co.uk/west-green-house/|title=English gardens - West Green Houses|publisher=Sisley Garden Tours| accessdate=6 January 2013}} After the Playfairs left West Green House five years later, the new owner, Evelyn, Duchess of Wellington continued to improve the gardens. The Duchess and her friend Yvonne Fitzroy occupied the house and garden for many years. Victor Sassoon bought the house and allowed the Duchess and her friend to live in house until the Duchess's death in 1939 and Fitzroy's death in 1971.

The National Trust has owned the house since 1971, after being left the property by Victor Sassoon in 1957. Alistair McAlpine acquired the lease in 1976 and added monuments designed by the classical architect Quinlan Terry.{{cite book |author=Patrick Taylor|title=Gardens of Britain and Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5u4y832PZYC&pg=PA108|accessdate=6 January 2013 |date=1 May 2008 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley|isbn=978-1-4053-2854-8|pages=108–}}

The house was damaged by an IRA bomb attack in 1990.{{cite web| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-16-mn-106-story.html|title=IRA Claims Blame in Wave of Blasts|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=6 January 2013}} McAlpine had left the house three weeks previously, at the expiration of his lease.

Marylyn Abbott bought the lease from the National Trust in 1993.{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303823104576391250165901330 |title=Music Inhabits Summer Gardens |last=Kirwan-Taylor |first=Helen |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=1 July 2011 |accessdate=23 July 2013 }} She had previously developed her well-known Kennerton Green garden in Mittagong, New South Wales, Australia.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/country--garden-the-colour-of-two-continents-1130105.html |title=Country & garden: The colour of two continents |last=Pavord |first=Anna |newspaper=The Independent |date=4 December 1999 |accessdate=23 July 2013 }} The gardens at West Green house now extends beyond the 18th century walls to beyond a lake created in 1997 which is surrounded by a series of perimeter gardens, one a fountain “ Paradise Garden”, another a 190 meter serpentine of iris crossed by five wisteria clad bridges. With six walled gardens, each individually planted from checkerboard topiary, to tropical plants in summer, and oriental plants around two dragons, it is a garden known for its theatricality.{{cn|date= March 2024}} Alongside the garden, there is a gift-shop and cafe.

Marylyn Abbott is the former marketing and tourism manager of Sydney Opera House and instituted an opera season at West Green House which is held annually in July and August.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/best-garden-operas-in-london-6471057.html |title=Best garden operas in London |last=Kimberley |first=Nick |newspaper=London Evening Standard |date=19 May 2010 |accessdate=23 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106054353/http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/best-garden-operas-in-london-6471057.html |archivedate=6 January 2014 }} Today the opera is performed from a stage cantilevered from the lake's island with the audience seated in covered pavilions lake side.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/open-gardens/8645647/The-perfect-setting-for-outdoor-opera.html |title=The perfect setting for outdoor opera |last=Raymond |first=Francine |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=19 July 2011 |accessdate=23 July 2013 }}

In 2012, West Green House hosted a production by the Garsington Opera Emerging Artists programme.{{cite news |url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/michaelwhite/100065427/a-country-house-academy-for-opera-singers-the-new-venture-between-garsington-and-west-green-house/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804005405/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/michaelwhite/100065427/a-country-house-academy-for-opera-singers-the-new-venture-between-garsington-and-west-green-house/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 August 2012 |title=A country-house academy for opera singers |last=White |first=Michael |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=1 August 2012 |accessdate=23 July 2013 }}

• Country house opera
• List of opera festivals

Notes

{{Reflist}}

Sources

• Headley, Gwyn; Wim Meulenkamp (1986), Follies: A National Trust Guide London: Jonathan Cape {{ISBN|978-0-22402-105-0}}

• [http://www.westgreenhousegardens.co.uk/ Official site]
• [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/west-green-house-garden National Trust - West Green House Garden]
• [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenstovisit/3302627/A-palette-of-petals.html A 2002 Daily Telegraph article on Marylyn Abbot's gardens at West Green House]

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Category:Houses completed in the 18th century

Category:Gardens in Hampshire

Category:Country houses in Hampshire

Category:National Trust properties in Hampshire

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire

Category:Opera festivals in England

Category:Music festivals in Hampshire

Category:18th-century establishments in England