Hawkstone Park
Hawkstone Park Follies is one of England's most extraordinary and atmospheric historic landscape gardens, situated in the rural north Shropshire countryside near the village of Weston-under-Redcastle. Created in the eighteenth century, it represents one of the finest surviving examples of a Picturesque landscape in Britain, combining dramatic natural sandstone cliffs with an elaborate network of tunnels, grottos, bridges, arches, hermitages, and romantic follies spread across a wooded hillside. It was designated a Grade I listed landscape on the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens, reflecting its exceptional national importance. Unlike the manicured lawns and formal vistas of many Georgian estates, Hawkstone offers something altogether wilder and more theatrical — a landscape designed to provoke wonder, unease, and sublime awe in equal measure.
The park owes its creation primarily to the Hill family, who owned the Hawkstone estate for several centuries. Sir Rowland Hill, who became the first Protestant Lord Mayor of London in 1549, was an early figure in the family's rise to prominence. But it was Sir Richard Hill and later his nephew Sir Rowland Hill in the eighteenth century who transformed the estate into the extraordinary pleasure ground it became. Between roughly the 1740s and the early nineteenth century, they carved paths through the sandstone cliffs, built a hermitage (once famously inhabited by a paid hermit who would engage visitors in philosophical conversation), constructed viewing platforms over vertiginous drops, and added a range of Gothic and classical structures across the grounds. At its Georgian peak, Hawkstone was considered one of the must-see wonders of England, attracting visitors including Dr Samuel Johnson, who described it in suitably dramatic terms, and the young Thomas Telford.
The physical character of the place is unlike almost anywhere else in England. The landscape is defined by towering red sandstone cliffs and crags rising from dense woodland, riddled with natural caves and man-made tunnels that plunge visitors into near-total darkness before emerging onto sudden panoramic viewpoints. Paths wind steeply up and down through tangled woods, past moss-covered stone structures and weathered archways draped in ferns. The narrow passages through rock demand that visitors duck and squeeze, which adds a genuine sense of adventure. Sound plays a fascinating role here too — wind channels through the tunnels, birds echo against the cliff faces, and the outside world feels surprisingly remote even though it is never far away.
The surrounding area is quintessentially north Shropshire — gently rolling agricultural countryside with hedgerows and scattered estate villages, quite different from the more celebrated landscapes of the Welsh borders or the Shropshire Hills to the south. The Hawkstone estate itself encompasses not just the follies park but also the Hawkstone Park Hotel (a historic country house hotel), a golf course, and remnants of the wider designed landscape. The village of Hodnet with its celebrated Hall and gardens lies a short distance away, and the market town of Whitchurch is within easy reach to the north.
The park fell into a long decline through much of the twentieth century, becoming neglected and overgrown after the Hill family's connection with the estate ended. A major restoration effort beginning in the 1990s brought paths, structures, and plantings back to a visitable condition, and the park reopened to the public. Today it is managed as a visitor attraction, with an admission fee giving access to the full circuit of paths and features. Visitors should be prepared for a reasonably strenuous walk — the terrain is hilly, some paths are uneven, and certain sections require crawling through low tunnels. Sturdy footwear is strongly recommended. The park is most atmospheric in spring when bluebells carpet the woodland floor, and in autumn when the canopy turns golden against the red sandstone, though it retains a compelling mood in almost any weather.
One of the park's most celebrated and peculiar features is the grotto inhabited by a real hermit during the Georgian period, a figure hired to live on site and add to the atmosphere of philosophical mystery the Hills wished to cultivate. This practice, while not unique to Hawkstone, was carried out here with particular commitment. The White Tower, a tall Gothic structure that once served as a viewing platform, remains a landmark visible above the tree canopy. There is also a remarkable natural feature called Grotto Hill and a dramatic arch known as the Arch of Triumph. Less well known is the connection to Arthurian legend — the prominent hill known as Bury Walls nearby is associated with local folklore, and the entire region carries a deep sense of layered history. The park has also been used as a filming location, having stood in for Narnia in a BBC television adaptation of C.S. Lewis's chronicles, a choice that speaks volumes about the otherworldly quality of the landscape.