Description:In 1766, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, fleeing persecution in France and Geneva, was offered refuge in England by David Hume. In March of that year he was living at Wootton Hall, the home of Richard Davenport. He composed parts of 'The Confessions' in a grotto at Wootton Hall. The Hall was demolished in 1931 but the façade to the grotto was acquired by William Podmore Snr. In 1960 it was reconstructed by the Pool Terrace at Consall Hall in by William Podmore OBE.
When he inherited the Consall Hall estate in 1958, William Podmore OBE (1917-2018) Jr set about expanding the gardens to their current size of over 70 acres, disguising a former industrial landscape with dams, ponds and tree planting. He also introduced a number of follies and monuments to the landscape.