Painshill Park

Painshill Park is an 18th-century English landscape park set in 158 acres of land located near Cobham, in Surrey, England.

The park was designed and created between 1738 and 1773 by Charles Hamilton, and is now owned by Elmbridge Borough Council and managed by the Painshill Trust.

The landscape garden stretches along the banks of the winding River Mole on land which has a number of natural hills and valleys. The central feature is a serpentine lake of 14 acres, which has several islands and is spanned by bridges and a causeway. The water for the lake and the plantings is pumped from the River Mole by a 19th-century beam engine powered by a water wheel.

Charles Hamilton enhanced the views of the hills and lake by planting woods, avenues, and specimen trees to create vistas and separate environments, including an amphitheatre, a water meadow and an alpine valley.

As focal points in the vistas and as sympathetic elements to be discovered in the landscape, Hamilton also built a number of follies, including a crystal grotto, a Gothic 'temple', 'ruins' of a Gothic abbey, a Roman mausoleum, and a Gothic tower with a view of the countryside. All of these features still exist and have been restored, and a hermitage and Turkish tent have also been recreated.

Taskmaster connection

Painshill Park was used as a location for the production of pre-filmed tasks during series 19 of Taskmaster UK.