Loose Summer Dressing | Painswick Rococo Garden in the Cotswolds

This is my penultimate summer sightseeing post for our mini trip to the Cotswolds last week! These photos were taken in (the not-very-Cotswoldsy-looking) Painswick Rococo Gardens,

the UK’s only surviving complete rococo garden. I wore something super casual and comfortable for walking, but I wouldn’t have felt out of place in an 18th century brocade silk gown to be honest – just wait till you see the rest of this gorgeous place!

THE GARDENS WERE DESIGNED IN THE 1740s FOR THE OWNER OF PAINSWICK HOUSE TO ENTERTAIN HIS GUESTS… YOU CAN JUST IMAGINE THEM ALL SWANNING AROUND IN AN 18TH CENTURY VERSION OF A GATSBY PARTY.

The gardens were designed in the 1740s as a “flamboyant pleasure garden” for the owner of Painswick House to entertain his guests… you can just imagine them all swanning around in an 18th century version of a Gatsby party. It’s like a huge theatrical set designed just for fashion bloggers to go nuts in: Pavilions and follies, a maze, a Gothic exedra, vegetable and flower gardens, lush woodland and more.

It was totally and utterly breathtaking and provided us with no end of photo opportunities.

SHOP THE LOOK:

Of course I went all casual wore a loose shirt thinking it would be lovely weather that day… Er, no. (You’d think I’d know the British weather by now.) In fact I was pretty damn cold, and I didn’t have a jacket or anything else with me; all I really needed was a t-shirt or vest top underneath to keep out the chill of the cool wind. But the tropical print trousers I first wore last summer were suited to the gardens and those lush embellished sneakers fared me well for a day walking around this beautiful spot.

We went there on a recommendation (thank you if that was you) after I asked where to go and what to see in the Cotswolds on my Facebook page – you would have been fed up of seeing yet more limestone cottages in an outfit post, wouldn’t you? (Wouldn’t you…??!)

HAVE YOU EVER VISITED PAINSWICK ROCOCO GARDENS? OR HAVE YOU BEEN TO SOMEWHERE SIMILAR (ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, I’M THINKING ITALY OR FRANCE)! TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS OR TWEET ME @NOTLAMB!

ASOS shirt (I love this classic stripe Oxford shirt, this blue shirt with white sleeves and this blue / white short sleeved shirt) | Dorothy Perkins trousers (these floral print trousers are very similar – and on sale!) | Kurt Geiger embellished sneakers | Hobbs tote c/o (this orange leather tote is similar) | Le Specs pastel mirror sunglasses via ASOS (on sale!) | New Look cuff (love this double wrap leather bracelet) | Lizzy O rose gold diamante wrap bracelet | Nails Inc ‘Porchester Square’