About

We’ll probably never know why he chose the Wye Valley. Perhaps he’d fallen in love with its natural beauty on earlier visits. Maybe the splendid historic buildings mingled with mountains, valleys and rivers was, for him, a heady mix that provided an essential source of inspiration.

For whatever reason, Henry Avray Tipping – a wealthy 39 year old architectural historian with a passion for plants, and a friend of Gertrude Jekyll and Harold Peto – set up home in the Wye Valley in 1894. And it was in this part of Wales that he refined his skill as a garden and house designer over the next 30 or so years, reaching a pinnacle at High Glanau Manor, near Monmouth.

He combined practical projects with his role as Architectural Editor of Country Life, which he transformed into essential reading about Britain’s country houses. Though less well known as a garden designer, he notably designed Chequers and Dartington Hall. His real love was plants. And this love of plants led first to garden and then house design.

High Glanau Manor is set in twelve acres of fine gardens, designed by H. Avray Tipping in 1922. Many original features remain including formal terraces, steps leading down to an octagonal lily pool, and the glass house and pergola. Beyond the terraces and pool, with their spectacular views towards the Brecon Beacons, Tipping created winding paths leading through the woodland gardens where he planted many shade-loving plants and rhododendrons.

Open by appointment for private tours.