What People Say
"It's good to be reminded that it is still just about the best post war house I
know."
Letter from the late Lionel Brett (Lord Esher), past President of the Royal
Institute of British Architects
"To my mind they are some of the most beautiful houses built in England since the
war… Not only are the gardens a masterpiece in their own right, but they relate
to the buildings in an unforgettable way."
Letter from Peter Davey, Editor of the
Architectural Review for 25years
"I would include it in a list of 20 of the most remarkable and unusual places to
visit in England"
Sherban Cantacuzino, former Secretary to the Royal Fine Art Commission
"Carefully scaled response to locality and site, simplicity and directness of building,
and ingenuity of planning… A series of secret spaces, each carefully composed
to take advantage of topography,shading and orientation with plant species chosen
to respond to their locations…"
Peter Davey, Foreword to "Aldington Craig & Collinge"
by Alan Powers, published in 2009
"...where the architect's eye and the plantsman's instinct meet and work their magic"
Gardens Illustrated
"The permeability of the buildings, the indistinct division between the interior
and exterior spaces with rooms flowing into gardens and the asymmetry and informal
composition, is in the tradition of the English picturesque. Yet the witty way in
which Turn End is conceived as a series of walled enclosures, some open to the sky,
others roofed…There is nothing else like Aldington's houses and garden at
Haddenham in post-war British architecture. They show how the most modest of materials
can create characterful architecture, how English traditions of picturesque and
vernacular design and construction can fuse with key tenets of modernism to make
an architecture very much of its place. And they demonstrate a magical union between
interior and exterior, between house and garden. These buildings remain an object
lesson for all architects, and their protection and right to gradual and appropriate
change should be guaranteed"
Dan Cruickshank, RIBA Journal, Oct.1996
"It is an intricate layout, constantly surprising the visitor… it is in fact,
very peaceful and a delight to visit"
Anthony Huxley, Country Life, Aug 15th 1985