What is a Ha-Ha?
A ha-ha looks like a ditch that has a vertical brick retaining wall on one side which is unseen from the main house and gardens, the ditch is usually turf and slopes back up to ground level. The ha-ha is situated at the edge of the garden or pleasure grounds that surround the main house, the main purpose is to provide uninterrupted views of the estate or parklands and distant coutryside views.
Visually from the house or pleasure grounds there are seamless views however it also stops livestock such as cows, deer or sheep from entering and destroying the gardens yet allows them close enough to graze and been seen.
Last weekend I visited Charlecote Park a National Trust property in Warwickshire. The estate is said to have been in the ‘Lucy’ family since the 13th Century but the house was completed in 1558. The house itself has been ‘dressed’ as it would have been in the Victorian times and there really is a lot to see and experience. When we first went into the house there was a talk that had begun about clothes ladies wore in that era and even how items became fashionable back in Tudor times when Elizabeth I reigned. All the rooms were amazing from the attention to detail in carvings to the opulence of the lifestyle, you could really imagine what life for the aristocracy was like back then. It was just like walking onto the set of a historical drama!
