Hidcote has some of the best-known gardens belonging to the National Trust. They were created between 1907 and 1947 by Major Lawrence Johnston (1871–1958), as a pioneering example of the revived taste for formal gardens, complementing and centred on the manor house, not open to the public, which dates from the late seventeenth century, but was re-fronted in the eighteenth century. It was originally the seat of the Keyts (whose monuments are to be found in the parish church), who are represented here by two portraits of sitters associated with them by marriage. Major Johnston, who gave Hidcote to the National Trust in 1947, is represented by just one of his florid flowerpieces; it is in striking contrast to the green-based formality of his garden.