Turn End is one of three houses designed and built in the 1960s by internationally renowned architect Peter Aldington in the village of Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.
The three houses received a Royal Institute of British Architects Award for Architecture in 1970 and were listed at Grade II* in 2006; only a handful of post war houses are listed at this grade. In November 2017 Historic England listed Turn End’s garden at Grade II and added it to the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. At that time Turn End was the only post-war listed house and garden created by the same hand.
As modern housing, made of wood, concrete block and glass, in a traditional setting, the group has always been celebrated as a rare British representative amongst the best of European housing design and has welcomed visitors from all over the world. Turn End's garden, designed and made by Peter as a natural extension to the house, grew with the buildings, maturing into a world renowned garden. Turn End has provided teaching material for students of architecture and landscape design, been written about nationally and internationally and photographed widely.
Visit us:
Turn End is still the Aldington family home. It is not open every day but we are delighted to welcome visitors at one of our public events or by booking a group visit by appointment to the garden. Friends of Turn End can also book a self-guided visit to the garden throughout the year. Please find out more about visiting including directions and parking advice on our Visit & Contact page.
About
Find out about Peter Aldington's three award-winning village houses and Grade II Listed garden.
20 April 2025
Mediterranean plants for Turn End’s dry garden
Last April, our Gardener Jackie Hunt visited Corfu on a botanical study trip to explore gardens and discover wildflowers. Since then she has been sharing her research through a report, a series of lectures and experimenting with introducing some of the plants that she admired to the dry garden here at Turn End. You can download her plant list here.
4 April 2025
Could you be our next Gardener?
After 14 years caring for the Grade II listed gardens at Turn End Jackie Hunt is moving on to a new job and Mr and Mrs Aldington are now recruiting for a Sole Gardener. The recruitment is being managed by Michael Walker, National Gardens Specialist. Please find the job description here. Please contact Michael for further information by email: nationalgardensspecialist@gmail.com.
1 March 2025
2025 - Event News
After a very exciting and busy few years, we are reducing our public programme this year to enable maintenance across the estate. As a result, there is only one House and Garden Open Day which is on Sunday 25th May. We are also currently not taking new bookings for group visits by appointment. We are also delighted to be working on a new development project with consultant, Clare Hughes. The focus of this work will be supporting the Trust to build a clear vision of an ambitious but achievable future and to create a set of guiding principles to bring that future to fruition. These principles will include design-led story-telling; socially-focused community engagement; innovative re-use; and creative partnerships. Clare will work with Trustees, stakeholders and communities. We will post progress updates on our website and continue to welcome enquiries via our contact form.
A Favourite Quote!
Modern House Magazine: What is your favourite living space around the world? “There are at least five places that I constantly fantasise about living in, but if I was to name only one it would be Peter Aldington’s Turn End. I love how every room connects to the garden, blurring the lines of what’s inside and what’s out.” Andrea Roman, Ceramicists, Modern House Magazine.
Watch the talk online - Turn End with Garden Masterclass
If you missed the talk about Turn End talk by our gardener, Jackie Hunt, for Garden Masterclass you can now watch it for free on Garden Masterclass’ You Tube channel here.
Turn End features on Grand Designs: The Streets, Series 2, Episode 3
We were delighted to hear how self builders John and Julia were inspired by Turn End for their own home at Graven Hill, Oxfordshire. In the programme, aired 27 April 2022, presenter Kevin McCloud describes Turn End as an “architectural masterpiece…a place of pilgrimage for architects and self builders”. Come and find your inspiration at one of our house and garden events this year.
Volunteering Opportunities
Escape for an hour or two into nature and reap the wellbeing and uplifting benefits Turn End has to offer. We are looking for volunteers to join our friendly team and assist us in the running of our events programme. There are various roles from garden preparation, to house and garden hosts, catering, book and plant sales. Roles can be tailored to fit your skills and availability. For more information please get in touch: turnendtrustevents@gmail.com or complete our online volunteer form.
