View down the finished oak and stone Pergola from the west with garden visitors enjoying themselves, 1907. Photo by Ivo Richard Vesey (1881-1958), 5th Viscount de Vesci.

Edwin Lutyens enjoyed being at ‘comfortable luxurious Hestercombe’ where he took every opportunity to charm the socially prominent usually wealthy guests he encountered there, some of whom were already clients. Among those who were doubtless subjected to his witty puns and picture jokes was Frances Isabella Catherine Thynne (Vesey), Marchioness of Bath and Mrs. Portman’s sister-in-law; and Constance Bigges, wife of Arthur John Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham and Private Secretary to the future King George V, the Prince of Wales.