|
 Harewood's magnificent Terrace was added in the mid-nineteenth century. Before that the South door, like that of many 18th century houses, gave onto a grass field.
Within a few years of inheriting Harewood from his father in 1841, Henry, 3rd Earl of Harewood and his wife Louisa commissioned Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) to transform the House and its setting.
 The plan for the Terrace, on two levels, was put into action in the 1840s and photographs from 1861 show the Terrace and parterre in very much the form to which they were, in 1994, restored. Masterminded and directed by Harewood's Head Gardener, Michael Walker, the restoration of the Terrace went through a number of stages but the final concept was as it is today. Dwarf box hedges contain the patterns within which flowers bring colour to the scheme.
Four little marble statues on the seats at either end of the Terrace are by Peter von Baurscheit the younger, dated 1725, and on the Upper Terrace there is a further group dated 1729. Orpheus with a Leopard by Astrid Zydower (born 1930) adorns the central fountain, taking the place of Barry's original which disintegrated as a result of frost in 1982.
 The Dolphin Garden, which is a feature of the West end of the Upper Terrace, was suggested by an idea of David Hicks, with terracotta dolphins in the centre and a French terracotta figure of Autumn at the end of the vista to the West.
|
|
