Iford Manor

It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon.

[3] His great love of the Italian garden style is plainly evident at Iford, where flowers occupy a subordinate place amongst the more structural elements of cypress, statuary, hedges, water features and broad walks.

[9] A number of plants of particular interest can be found at Iford: standard Wisteria sinensis blossoms across much of the front of the house and up flights of steps linking the terraces (particularly good in late May); Phillyrea latifolia; Buxus sempervirens grows in wild tree form in the woods above the house and is extensively used in the gardens as a structural plant; Cupressus sempervirens; Hemerocallis citrina, the scented daylily; the naturalised Martagon lily.

[citation needed] In addition to his planting and structural work, Peto created a number of architectural garden features, which remain well preserved.

Alongside the lawn he built a lily pool, a colonnade-lined Great Terrace, and the Cloisters, a Grade II* listed[10] Italianate courtyard surrounded by an arcade,[3] which was his "Haunt of Ancient Peace" where he displayed many of his treasures.

[3] Thought lost after the war, the present owners since 1965, the Cartwright-Hignett family, have restored the garden and the various structures therein, initially assisted by Lanning Roper.

From 1983 until 2018, the Iford Arts Festival held a three-month season of opera, jazz and other concerts in the gardens, making use of the Cloisters[13] and the Casita as performance spaces.

Because of this, the buildings and a small area of land surrounding them, 0.39 hectares (1.0 acre), were notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1996.

Although the manor itself is in Wiltshire, both bat breeding sites are in Bath and Northeast Somerset, and so fall within English Nature's Avon Area of Search.