If it’s fresh air and space to spend socially distanced time with friends and family you are after, then the gardens the American Museum & Gardens, are just what you need.
Opened in September 2018 by Alan Titchmarsh, the New American Garden is the first European commission for Washington DC-based landscape architects Oehme, van Sweden. The planting follows the free-form style made famous by the firm’s founders, Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden. Native American shrubs, perennials, and bulbs feature heavily, but the garden is designed to work with the steep terrain and enhance the view over the Limpley Stoke Valley, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Museum’s gardens also feature a reproduction of George Washington’s upper garden as it would have appeared on his Mount Vernon estate in Virginia in 1799. Our Mount Vernon garden features ornamental planting, fruit and vegetables, and boxwood hedges in the shape of four fleur de lis which symbolize the friendship between America’s first president and the Marquis de Lafayette.
Inside Claverton Manor – a shared journey
The Manor house is the home of the Museums main collection. It is the only Museum outside the United States to showcase the decorative arts of America. The permanent collection includes more than two hundred historic American quilts, exceptional pieces of Shaker furniture, Native American objects, and two hundred historical maps of the New World from the twelfth century to the Renaissance. The Museum also has the most significant collection of American folk art in Europe.
For more information about planning a visit to the American Museum & Gardens visit www.americanmuseum.org
