Gardener'S Cottage About 350 Metres North West Of Laverstoke House

Gardener's Cottage, located about 350 metres northwest of Laverstoke House, is a bothy built around 1854 by P.C. Hardwick for Melville Portal, MP of Laverstoke House. The cottage has been altered and extended in the late 19th or early 20th century. It features a ground floor made of red brick and flint, with scalloped tile-hanging above. The roof is half-hipped and gabled, adorned with bands of shaped tiles and ornate bargeboards, although the finials and ridge cresting are missing. A central axial brick stack is flanked by octagonal shafts with moulded bases and caps.

The building has a T-shaped plan with a tower and porch on the north side of the cross-wing. During the late 19th or early 20th century, the loggia under the front of the cross-wing was filled in, and a small single-storey outshut was added at the back. It is designed in a picturesque Gothic style.

The cottage is two storeys high and has an asymmetrical two-bay east front facing a walled kitchen garden. The gabled cross-wing on the right features a first-floor oriel supported by brackets, with a tympanum in the gable displaying terracotta arms. Below this is a large 9-light mullion-transom window that replaced the original Gothic arcaded loggia. The left side has a similar 3-light window and an oriel above, with a bargeboarded gable and a tympanum featuring the monogram "MP" on a shield. There is also an oriel on the south end.

On the north side of the cross-wing, a round flint and brick tower has a buttress and loops, with a truncated tiled octagonal spire. An open porch to the right of the tower has a gabled roof supported by arched wooden posts. At the rear, there is a jettied gable on the left with an oriel, and a single-storey outshut on the right with a pointed arch doorway. All windows are casements, originally fitted with leaded panes. The RIBA Drawings Collection holds a contemporary illustration of the cottage.