High Glanau


High Glanau is a country house and Grade II* listed building within the community of Cwmcarvan, Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located about south-west of Monmouth, and north of Trellech, adjoining the B4293 road and with views westwards over the Vale of Usk. It is particularly noted for its gardens.

Building and gardens

The house was built in the Arts and Crafts style in 1922–23 by the architect Eric Francis, of Chepstow, for Henry Avray Tipping. Avray Tipping was an architectural writer, the editor of Country Life magazine, and a garden designer among whose friends were Gertrude Jekyll and Harold Peto. Tipping lived at Mounton House near Chepstow, but sought a new home for his retirement. Tipping bought the 1,640 acre estate, near Trellech, as a rough shoot in 1917.
The front of the house is of two storeys, with three slate-hung gables between two chimneystacks. On the upper entrance side there is a broad slate roof with a pair of gabled turrets. The house is set above formal gardens, with stone-walled terraces and an octagonal pond. The gardens were created by Tipping between 1922 and 1929. Several cottages around the estate were built by Francis for Tipping at about the same time. Avray Tipping moved to London in 1930, and died in 1933.
The house was given Grade II* listed building status on 22 February 1989. It is privately owned. The gardens are open to the public on several days each year. They are described by the National Gardens Scheme as having a "pergola, herbaceous borders, Edwardian glasshouse, rhododendrons, azaleas, tulips, orchard with wild flowers and woodland walks". The terraces are highly structured, with steps, walls and piers, although some architectural features, such as finials and urns were stolen in the 1990s. The terraces have their own Grade II* listing. The garden wall and pergola, greenhouse, gardener's cottage and garage are all listed Grade II. The garden historian Elisabeth Whittle describes High Glanau, along with Tipping's other gardens at Mathern Palace, Mounton House and Wyndcliffe Court as "four of the best Welsh gardens of period".