The Pleasure Gardens
Warnford lies in the heart of the Meon Valley, straddling the river which runs through the park and village. To the west the land rises up to Beacon Hill, a significant local landmark on the Hampshire Downs, while the parkland extends south-eastwards over gently rolling land in the direction of Old Winchester Hill.
Nestling in the valley lies Warnford Park. It is a late 18th Century landscape park and pleasure grounds designed by Capability Brown as the setting for a country house. Enjoy it as you wander through the Snowdrop Walk.
Pleasure Grounds
The pleasure grounds lie to the south of the church and consist of a walk past St John's House, through a broad woodland belt which encircles the brick-walled kitchen garden and back via the formal raised terrace and the Summer House.
​
The park and gardens were remodelled by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, with a survey undertaken in 1773 and the main layout having been completed by 1782.
Church
Deep in the woodlands of the Meon Valley, the Church of our Lady, Warnford stands in peaceful isolation. The building is Early English of the simplest style with a tower and single cell nave and chancel, as befitting so small a parish, and is the start of the Snowdrop Walk. Here you can enjoy the fine tea and cakes while listening to some music
It has a long history, with a church first founded here by St. Wilfrid in the 7th Century. This earliest church, probably built of wood or wattle and daub, was replaced in the later Saxon period by a simple stone church. The church as it currently stands dates from the 12th Century, rebuilt in phases by the de Port family, who held the manor of Warnford at that time.
Woodland Walk
From St John's House you take a path leading south-eastwards through the snowdrops in the woodland belt to the late 18th Century Momento Mori arch, a flint-faced arch folly with flanking walls which stands at the north-east corner of the pleasure grounds. You then amble through woodlands to emerge on the formal raised terrace.
St Johns House
East of the parish church and the next stop on the Snowdrop Walk lies the remains of St John's House. This ruined building is one of a small number of early surviving 13th century halls and built by Adam de Port in the time of King John. It was “ruined” in the mid C18, in order to incorporate the ruins as a feature of the pleasure grounds. The encircling plantation was designed to reveal the ruins of St John's House, and perhaps also a view of the parish church. Beyond the hall lies the start of the woodland walk.
Formal Raised Terrace
From the Woodland Walk you emerge on the formal raised terrace. It extends some 100m westwards. Originally supporting a raised walk laid out to the south of the Summer House, it was further ornamented and formalised in the early 19th Century by the addition of a retaining wall on its park side, along its full length. The terrace is built of flintwork with taller piers at intervals along its length.
The Summer House
Halfway down the terrace you pass the Summer House before wending your way back to the Church. The late 18th Century Summer House, also known as the Dower House or Lady Mary’s Bath House, sits centrally on the south side of the pleasure grounds, astride a formal channelled watercourse (now dry).
This gothic garden pavilion commands extensive views across the southern park, which in the past was crossed by the earthworks of a water-meadow system.