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• John Evelyn was also a famous botanist and tree expert. He was enthusiastically in favour of reforestation to make good losses due to heavy timber consumption made by the ship building, iron smelting and charcoal industries. He had many books published in his lifetime, several on the subject of trees and gardens. He designed at least part of the gardens at Wotton, with some help from his brother George, in an Italian style, revolting against Tudor formalism. • Extensive alterations were made to the original house in the second half of the 17th Century, and the house and grounds have continued to be altered and improved periodically ever since. • The front of the house gives the appearance of a Tudor or Jacobean Mansion, but in reality this façade is a Victorian creation, carried out by William John Evelyn in the last half of the 19th Century. W J Evelyn also kept a menagerie near the House, including Kangaroos, which eventually escaped in the direction of Leith Hill. • W J Evelyn’s only son John succeeded him in 1908 and died in 1922. His older son C J A Evelyn, known as Jack, followed on, until inheritance by his nephew Mr Patrick Evelyn in 1965, who remains the present estate owner and Lord of the Manor of Wotton. • After the Second World War, Wotton House was used as a Fire Service College for thirty years. After that it became a BT training centre until 1986. It then remained vacant awaiting refurbishment until its Lease was acquired by Hayley Conference Centres in 2000
Garden Features Entrance Drive and Forecourt The general arrangement of a straight driveway approaching from the north is indicated on 17 th century sketches by John Evelyn and John Aubrey. The flank walls to the drive and the buildings which form the sides of the entrance date from a later period. Late 17 th Century watercolour of Wotton by John Aubrey Irish Garden The Irish garden formally part of the park lying to the north of the house and was incorporated into the gardens in the late 19 th century. The garden is enclosed on the north, east and west sides, with a fountain basin which survives in the centre constructed between 1872 and 1896. There are some fine trees in this area, notably a plane tree in the south-east corner. Photograph taken for publication in Country Life Illustrated, dated 1898
Page 2: Born into a family whose wealth was
Page 6: The house was built in the early 17
Page 12 and 13: Canalised Course of the Tillingbour
Page 14 and 15: The Fountain The fountain was origi
Page 16 and 17: The family business in George‟s t

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