Tea House Steps at Stan Hywet

Quarry steps at Stan Hywet

Just passed the Birch Allee at Stan Hywet, you come to the Tea Houses. If you venture to look over the railing between them, you will see the most thrilling stone steps down the side of the hill. This was one of the original quarries, and so these steps were part of the Quarry wall.

Stone steps and the top of a tea house at Stan Hywet.  Ferns, Helleborus, Pulmonaria and ivy cover this hillside.

A bit of history about this area of Stan Hywet from the Library of American Landscape History: "Quarry Wall in Wild Garden, Stan Hywet Hall, Manning planted the quarry escarpment with vines, ferns, wildflowers, and shrubs to create a cloak of foliage and bloom in an approach learned from his well-known mentor, Frederick Law Olmsted."

These are the more proper steps that you can descend to this area, just to the right of the tea houses.

A stone grotto gives respite just below the tea houses.

Looking up to the tea house.

Down, down, down the other side... to the Shakespearean stage, for the theater hosted at Stan Hywet every summer.

Quarry steps at Stan Hywet... a beautiful balance between century old stone work and nature.

Read more of my visit to Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens :

• Back Terrace and Pool
• More of the Waterlily pool
• Birch Allee and Tea Houses