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📍 Painshill Park
Painshill Park (Painshill Park) is a landscape garden that took more than 40 years to build in the 18th century by Charles Hamilton (Charles Hamilton), the sixth son of Earl Abercorn. Inspired by landscape painting and European travel, Charles blended classical and romantic styles into his designs, imitating natural landscapes. It took about an hour and a half by car from London to get there!
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The recommended time to visit Penhill Park is 2 to 3 hours. It has a coffee shop and souvenir shop, and pets with a leash are allowed. In addition, the park also provides shorter and flatter barrier-free routes for visitors in need. We booked tickets online in advance and easily picked them up at the entrance ticket office. My boyfriend also kindly ordered a park booklet (£3) for me to write a blog. Thank you. Next, I will introduce you to the eight major attractions in the park:
- Gothic Temple
- Abandoned Abbey Ruined Abbey
- Mausoleum Mausoleum
- Crystal Grotto
- Waterwheel
- Gothic tower
- Temple of Bacchus
- The Turkish Tent
Gothic Temple
The Gothic Temple (Gothic Temple) is a ten-sided gothic structure made of wood, which uses rendering techniques to create the texture of a stone. Five of the walls hang in the middle of the air, with wall panels, arched openings that guide the eyes of visitors to open on both sides, showing a beautiful, carefully arranged landscape, like a vivid painting. The top of each arch is decorated with a cast iron “drop”, one of the materials used in the garden in the early days. King George III once said that when visiting, he preferred the view from a gothic temple rather than from a Turkish tent. The Gothic-style temple you see now is a version that was rebuilt in 1985.
Abandoned Abbey Ruined Abbey
Ruined Abbey (Ruined Abbey) was Charles' last garden building, built in 1772. At the same time, he also expanded the surface of the lake so that the ruins were reflected in the lake water, presenting a magnificent landscape. Prior to this, the site was a clay meadow, where clay was excavated to make bricks, tiles, clay pots, and sugar molds, then fired in a nearby kiln. When Charles needed to sell Penhill Manor, in order to add appeal and get a better price, he flooded the clay meadows and built this abbey on the site of a kiln and brick factory. The abbey was built using Charles's own bricks. The stucco simulates the appearance of a stone, and initially had side walls.
Crystal Grotto
Crystal Grotto (Crystal Grotto) is one of the highlights of Penhill Park and the main reason we first wanted to visit the park. In Italy, Charles will see Garden Grottoes from the Renaissance period, as well as natural grottoes on the coast. Therefore, he liked to design a cave that looked like a natural rock cave, and the bottom of the bridge was covered with crystal clear stalactites. The entrance to the grotto is hidden behind a rock.
The grotto is made of bricks, and the outer layer is shaped limestone. The interior walls are inlaid with gypsum, calcite, quartz, fluorite, and other minerals. The artificial stalactites hanging from the ceiling shine brightly when irradiated by refracted light, creating a magical crystal cave. The grottoes are carefully designed to capture sunlight, illuminate crystals, and form a sparkling band of light on the ceiling.
Since the cave is mysterious and cool, it can catch and reflect any light that shines in, so in mythology, it is regarded as a gateway to other worlds and a home for fairies. Da Vinci once said, “When you approach a grotto, you should have two emotions: fear and desire. You should be afraid of what might be inside, yet be eager to discover it”. A disco ball is cleverly placed here, and you can see the crystal's reflection as long as you irradiate it with the light of your phone!
Afterwards, we saw two Egyptian geese in the Crystal Caves. There are also various other types of birds in other parts of the park!
Mausoleum Mausoleum
Walking from the Crystal Cave to the mausoleum, Charlie purposely planted dark yew trees along the path, creating a depressing atmosphere. He wanted to use the tomb as a reminder of the short life of visitors, and designed it as the ruins of a Roman triumphal arch, with an altar and sarcophagus.
Waterwheel
Water from the River Mole (River Mole) is lifted through this wooden water wheel, collected through four spiral tubes, and finally discharged into a hollow shaft. Although small water turbines may be more efficient, Charles hopes to attract visitors' attention and blend into the landscape through the larger ones.
Gothic tower
The Gothic-style tower, built in the 1750s, stands at the highest point in the garden. It is built of bricks and painted in stone. Visitors in the 18th century were able to overlook London's St Paul's Cathedral and Windsor Castle from the 27-metre tall tower. Now, on a clear day, you can enjoy the beautiful views of Canary Wharf and Windsor Castle! Charles was interested in both science and art, so he specifically contacted the inventor to learn about the latest invention and installed a lightning rod at the top of the tower (apparently, the lightning rod was installed earlier than St. Paul's Cathedral in London).
Temple of Bacchus
The Temple of Bacchus (Temple of Bacchus) was completed in 1762 to house the Bacchus statue that Charles brought back during his trip. The temple is Doric in style, with six columns at the front and back, with alternating rose ornaments and Charles's coat of arms. From here, you can overlook the entire Panhill Park, which is very relaxing.
Regrettably, the Bacchus Temple collapsed in the 20th century, and the architecture you see today was excavated and rebuilt through archaeological excavations. Although the Foundation wanted to be able to rebuild the temple as it was, it had to make some compromises due to budget restrictions and the requirements for the longevity of the building. As a result, the statues seen in front of the gate and inside the temple are all reproductions of cardboard, and the flower pattern on the ceiling is just flat wallpaper.
The Turkish Tent
The last stop in the entire park is the Turkish Tent (Turkish Tent), which was built in 1760. The chairs in the tent are hoping that visitors will be able to look back on their trip to Penhill Park. Due to the poor durability of canvas, the tent's skirt was replaced in 2002 with a glass fire-resistant skirt, and stitched seams imitated the texture of canvas.
How do I get to Painshill Park?
Take the train to Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon stop, then take bus 408 to reach Penhill Park in 7 minutes.
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