Welcome to Painshill Park!

We hope you will enjoy the tranquil beauty of this carefully restored 18th century landscape park and its gardens. Follow the historic route and discover a living work of art. Enjoy true peace and inspiration here. We look forward to receiving your visit soon!

Bastion and Vineyard
The first views of the 14 acre (5.7ha) lake are from the top of this hill, across the Surrey countryside, framed by the fir and pine trees and the hawthorn hedge. Below is part of the vineyard created by Charles Hamilton on the south facing slope, producing white, rose and sparkling wine on sale in the Painshill shop.

The Abbey
To the right of the vineyard and on the lake edge, the abbey was the last of the follies to be created, over Charles Hamilton’s brick and tile works, when the Park was put up for sale in 1772.

The Amphitheatre and the Statue
The shape of this garden area is based on a plan made in 1744 by surveyor John Rocque. The planting combines inspiration from Italianate gardens which would have been seen on the Grand Tour, and the beginnings of the more informal style of the English landscape movement.
The large tree in the lawn is an ancient Cork oak (Quercus suber).
The Statue is a copy in lead of the Sabine group by Giambologna (c1582) orginally in marble which stands in Florence.

Gothic Temple
The building, like many in the park, was economically constructed of timber and rendered to resemble stone. Five of the sides were panelled half way up. The carefully sited vistas were framed within the narrow openings of the arches. From this point most of the park's outstanding features could be seen. It was the first major viewpoint of the 'Great Design Axis', offering a preview of the buildings which could be visited later. The Temple was skilfully sited to attract the eye from many points of the estate.

Chinese Bridge Peninsula
A narrow zig-zag path leads from the Gothic Temple and opens to an area of lawns and mixed shrub borders. The larger of the two lawns is planted in the mid-18th century style with serpentine border edges and using shrubs and trees from around the world. All species of plants used in the gardens would have been available to Charles Hamilton and reflect his interest in plants as well as design.
The small flower bed in the lawn, also known as a “stud” contains a mix of perennials from Europe and North America, with a central specimen tree (Cercis canadensis). Annuals are added in the summer to extend the season of interest.

Chinese Bridge
Leaving the Chinese Bridge peninsula, and on your way to Grotto Island, you take a "walk, which, as there is every shade of green in it, has a charming effect, before you cross a Chinese Bridge..." (John Parnell, 1763)

Grotto
The many visitors' descriptions in the 18th century, give the impression that the Grotto at Painshill was the finest of its type ever built. Built across two islands in the lake, it gave the appearance of a rocky cavern on the shore, being covered externally with limestone which was brought from quarries in Gloucestershire and the Bath area. The main chamber (40 feet square) is magnificent.

Mausoleum
This ruined replica of a Roman triumphal arch was intended to remind visitors of the transience of material things. It was built as a ruin, and its surroundings were designed to induce a mood of 'melancholy'.

Cascade
Hidden from the 5 arch bridge by the curving design of the 'lagoon' the water gushed from the Cascade in 5 or 6 streams through mossy weed-covered rocks and boulders over-arched by trunks of oak, forming a natural rustic setting.

Waterwheel
Hamilton conceived the idea that water could be raised from the River Mole some 5 meters below to provide a supply for its artificial lake. This was an ingenious scheme probably picked up from one of his tours abroad, using an 11 metre wheel.

Wheel Meadow and Alpine Valley
From the waterwheel, the visitor enters and wilder, more natural landscape, crossing a wildflower meadow which was re-created in 2004-5.
Charles Hamilton used the natural lie of the land, with its steep valley and sloping sides, to imitate landscapes which he would have seen on his Grand Tour. It is planted with a mixture of European, Asian and North American trees, especially conifers.

Hermitage
Sir John Parnell, 1763 - "You come to the top of a little eminence where you strike into a wood of different firs, acacias, etc, and serpentining through it arrive at a hermitage formed to the front with the trunks of fir trees with their bark on, their branches making natural gothic windows..."

Gothic Tower
Built in the late 1750's in imitation of a medieval watch tower, and sometimes referred to by Hamilton as his castle, it was neither intended nor ever used as a signal tower. Dominating the countryside from the westernmost boundary, it conveys an air of mystery.

Elysian Plain
The area at the top of the hill from the Gothic Tower back towards the formal parkland was referred to as being “like and Elysian Plain” by Sir John Parnell in 1769.
Now divided in two by a deer fence, the western end is being devoted to showcasing some of the larger specimen trees of the John Bartram Heritage Collection.
The garden area inside the deer fence, surrounding the site of the Temple of Bacchus, reflects the planting style of the mid-18th century, with trees and flowering shrubs in borders and island beds, and trees arranged in “airy groups and clumps” or as single specimens. Near the Temple, four flower beds give the gardens a colourful and vibrant feel in the summer.

Temple of Bacchus
The Temple was probably constructed to Hamilton's design, the best known representation being the painting of 1773 attributed to William Hannan. The marble statue of the god was stated to be 7'4" in height, Grecian, and acquired by Hamilton in Rome during his first Grand Tour.

Turkish Tent
Built by 1760, the view, said to be Hamilton’s favourite, provided a look back to the beginning of the tour for visitors. It is also one of the few places where they are recorded as being able to sit down! The historic route ended here, and a walk through open grassland among flocks of sheep led back to Hamilton's house.