New House
Overview
The Japanese Garden at the New House is a post-war Japanese-style garden at Shipton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire. It is registered at Grade II* on the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens, listed in 2012. Historic England describes the garden as dating from c. 1964–1965 and highlights its design interest for combining Japanese-style garden design with modernist principles.
History
The New House itself was designed and built in 1963–1964 by the architectural practice Stout and Litchfield. The garden followed in about 1964–1965 and was laid out by a small team led by Robin Dale for Sir Michael and Lady Audley. The house and garden form a rare integrated post-war private domestic design, with the Japanese garden conceived as part of the modernist living environment rather than as a historic estate-garden ornament.
Design features
The garden combines Japanese-inspired elements with modernist composition. Its design uses rock, water, planting, enclosure and carefully controlled views in relation to the low, pavilion-like modern house. Historic England identifies its particular significance in the quality of the layout and in the way Japanese garden design principles are adapted to a post-war modernist domestic setting.
Garden elements
Bridges
Waters and islands
Stones
Other elements
Current status
Extant Grade II* registered post-war Japanese-style modernist garden at a private house in Oxfordshire. The garden was laid out around 1964–1965 and is recognised by Historic England as a rare and high-quality combination of Japanese-style garden design and modernist landscape principles. It survives as part of the private house-and-garden ensemble of The New House, whose architecture and landscape were conceived together. The garden is not normally open as a public visitor garden, but has occasionally been accessible through specialist or private garden visits.