Dug ground with finished levels emerging, Hestercombe Formal Garden, 1904. Photo by Ivo Richard Vesey (1881-1958), 5th Viscount de Vesci.

The Victorian Terrace garden was the first garden built by the Portman family at Hestercombe, following the purchase of the 776-acre estate by Edward Berkeley Portman (1799-1888), 1st Viscount Portman in 1872. The 1st Viscount personally laid out the garden, which took two years to complete, in July 1875. Consisting of a formal layout of rectangular planting beds, with gravelled paths and a centrepiece fountain, it was restored by Somerset County Council 1997-98.