Hauser & Wirth (Somerset) and The Newt

Today, gardens (and a lot of rain - indeed, we seemed to spend whole chunks of day sitting in the car wondering if it was going to stop raining/rain again in a few minutes.  Of course, we had our raincoats and umbrella, but it was chill, seeping rain, not drizzle).

However ... we went to Hauser & Wirth - very familiar from LA, of course, but I'd been wanting for a while to see the Piet Oudolf garden there.  The gallery itself isn't quite open with its Henry Moore show, but there were some installations in the gardens themselves;

and then, at the end of the Oudolf Field, the amazing shell-like Radić Pavilion.

This is what the architect, Smiljan Radić, has to say about it:

‘The Radić Pavilion is part of a history of small romantic constructions seen in parks or large gardens, the so-called follies, which were hugely popular from the late 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century. In general, follies appear as ruins or worn away by time, displaying an extravagant, surprising and often primitive nature. These characteristics artificially dissolve the temporal and physical limits of the constructions themselves with their natural surroundings. This pavilion takes these principles and applies them to a contemporary architectural language. Thus, the unusual shape and sensual qualities of the pavilion have a strong physical impact on the visitor. The simultaneously enclosed and open volumes of the structure explore the relationship between the surrounding environment and the interior of the pavilion. From the outside, visitors see a fragile shell in the shape of a hoop suspended on large quarry stones. Appearing as if they had always been part of the landscape these stones are used as supports, giving the pavilion on the one hand a physical weight and on the other holding a structure characterised by lightness and fragility. The shell, which is white, translucent and made of fibreglass, contains an interior that is organised around an empty patio at ground level, giving the sensation that the entire volume is floating. The shell’s surface appears torn thereby incorporating the surroundings of the garden into the interior. The floor is grey wooden decking as if the interior was more a terrace rather than a protected interior space.’

This is one of the Moores:

And then over at The Newt - four and a half miles away - an amazing set of gardens and structures (and a hotel, but we're not staying there ...) - including alliums, 

and a little thatched cottage in which were preserved, or distilled, herbs and dried flowers;

and some elegant hedges and beds - but not too elegant and regimented: the whole gardens seemed to be laid out according to systems of curves.  I hope, sometime, that I get to come back when it's not raining ...