PERCHED on the westerly edge of Lincolnshire, Doddington Hall has remained in family ownership since it was built in 1600. An exquisite 1707 copper engraving of the estate by Johannes Kipp illustrates a cluster of outbuildings, including gatehouse and church, alongside tightly-controlled geometric gardens: a chessboard of crisp parterres, regimented orchards and cruciform paths. Today, swinging into the drive, that formality seems to be intact. A pair of topiary unicorns rear in the East Garden, where vast yew domes echo the cupolas on the Elizabethan building. On the opposite side, the walled West Garden retains neatly-clipped box-edged beds, crammed in summer with iris and roses.
The measureless drifts of flowers appear to have existed for centuries
Step through the western gate, however,
