Springhead Open Gardens

Springhead, with its ornamental and productive gardens, lies at the foot of north Dorset’s most spectacular downland. The downs, on the western edge of the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, command stunning views over the Blackmore Vale and Hardy’s Wessex.

At the entrance to Springhead, a range of thatched cottages and an 18th century mill house form a courtyard. The small pool at its centre is fed by running water that cascades beneath the mill house to become a gentle stream, Collyer’s Brook, flowing into the River Stour.

The picturesque lakeside gardens to the east of this cluster of buildings focus on a small, Italianate rotunda of stone and wrought iron. At the head of the lake, where the chalk of the downs meets the greensand of the vale, icy, clear water bubbles up from seven mysterious springs that are crossed by a wooden bridge and overshadowed by…