Photo by Farringford
Farringford House and Gardens
Farringford is a stunning Grade 1 Listed historic house at Freshwater in West Wight, which was the home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the renowned poet of the Victorian era.
From 1853 until his death in 1892, Farringford was Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s main home.
Farringford provided a tranquil domestic haven; it also attracted many of Tennyson’s eminent friends, becoming a focus of intellectual and artistic activity. It remained the family home for successive generations, before eventually becoming a hotel in 1945.
This dramatic Gothic house has been meticulously restored and redecorated in a late 19th-century style that reflects Tennyson’s tastes, interests and lifestyle.
Photos by Farringford and Yarmouth Harbour
Farringford Gardens
Tennyson was a keen gardener, regularly planting shrubs, raking leaves, and rolling seaweed onto the lawns for fertiliser, gathered from his coastal walks. His love of the natural world was such that he felt great remorse if flowers were ever picked from the garden or gathered from the woods or downland.
The Gardens have been returned to their Tennyson-era condition, including an enchanting walled garden with a planting scheme based on contemporary descriptions and artistic depictions by the poet’s friends.