The English Garden August/September 2020 - US Edition

7 GARDENS BURSTING WITH COLOUR AND BEAUTIFUL PLANTS

THE

english

GARDEN SEPTEMBER 2020

For everyone who loves beautiful gardens

Your guide to Britain’s best gardens

AWASH with COLOUR Flower-packed summer gardens

Floral fireworks

The best agapanthus to grow

Choosing and using sculpture

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CONTRIBUTORS

Clare Coulson Clare is a former fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph turned garden writer and contributor to Gardenista, who gardens on the Suffolk coast. She visits the awe-inspiring Malverleys on page 14.

Tamsin Westhorpe

A former editor of The English Garden, Tamsin now looks after Stockton Bury Gardens. Her book, Diary of a Modern Country Gardener is out now. She visits Meadow Farm on p50.

Welcome I

t’s the height of summer and gardens are cranking up a gear: borders everywhere are billowing and overflowing with colour. This issue showcases a range of gardens that are all brimming with summer joy, yet each has a very different style. At Malverleys in Hampshire, head gardener Mat Reese has its wildly romantic look under control and its seemingly restrained appearance is a careful, and highly skilful, orchestration. In what is perhaps the most northerly garden The English Garden has ever featured, Quoy of Houton on Orkney’s Mainland, plants have no choice but to huddle together in the shelter of the surrounding walls, or risk being blown clean away in the fierce salt winds that blast the coast.

When I wrote this welcome letter for the last issue, the crisis resulting from the global pandemic was only just beginning to unfold. We hope that the beautiful gardens and plants in our pages will be a welcome distraction in a difficult time, as well as the rich source of inspiration they have always been. We’ve all had to make a huge adjustment, but this has been slightly easier to bear if you are lucky enough to have the solace of a garden.

Until next time, may gardening keep you in good health and good spirits.

CLARE FOGGETT, EDITOR

IMAGES NEIL HEPWORTH

Holly Farrell

Holly trained at RHS Wisley and is the author of books including Growing Herbs, The Jam Maker’s Garden and RHS Plants from Pips.

She visits plant-based skincare producer AS Apothecary on p93.

ON THE COVER Neptune in his Steven Pettiferdesigned grotto at the gorgeously orchestrated gardens of Malverleys in Hampshire. Photo

by Clive Nichols.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 5

August/September 2020

CONTENTS

24

14

39

56 30

44

50 14

Gardens 14 Malverleys With high-maintenance planting, riotous borders and full-on colour, these Hampshire gardens are an aweinspiring testament to an intensive approach.

24 Quoy of Houton On Orkney’s Mainland, this garden constitutes a magnificent triumph over the unrelentingly fierce winds.

30 Cothay Manor The gardens surrounding this historic Somerset manor may have subtly changed over the centuries, but their timeless magic remains unaltered.

83

39 Gordon Castle Assisted by designer Arne Maynard, the Gordon Lennoxes have created one of Scotland’s most attractive, productive, working walled gardens.

44 Bannerdown The steep slopes of this revitalised Somerset garden immerse you in heavy planting with masses of perennials.

50 Meadow Farm Rob and Diane Cole eat, sleep and live gardening, and their attention to detail and deep love of planting illuminate their Worcestershire garden.

56 Hampton Court Castle At summer’s end these Herefordshire gardens just keep on giving, offering a melee of formal and informal and warm and cool planting.

84 Garden Road Trip Get out and explore England by car with our guide to the very best gardens within easy reach of the country’s main thoroughfares.

39 6 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

71

Design 65 Design Duos John Brookes, a household name in British garden design, and the creative American landscape designer who inspired him, Thomas Church.

Judith Blacklock Flower School London England

Floral design courses & "$' &' & # !'% ' %" ' &!# $' '% "' %" "&$% $& ' % &"' %% '#$' $# ! "# &'%"'%$ #$&' # '% "' & !# & ' % ' %$ '$&& ' $ ' $% & &' %"'& &"#&$ & '%$ ' ' % &'% ' % &"!

56 71 Garden Sculpture Art Unbound at Painswick Rococo Garden in the Cotswolds showed how sculpture can work in a garden.

93 Craftspeople Amanda Saurin grows

In London

Online

her own plants to make natural skincare

# '% &"!' '!& & #%$'% % "!&!'" $ #$ ' "% ' ' % "'% ' &' % &"' " & ' %' % && '#$ &$!# &' % "!&' %" "% &!!#%$ !'#$' &"' " #$ & !'#$' $# ! "# &

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products and botanical infusions.

Plants 79 Plant Focus With their exploding globes of white or every shade of blue, agapanthus are one of the glories of the summer garden.

10%

DISCOUNT ON THE ONLINE COURSES to all readers of The English Garden

83 Plant Swatch Pep up your borders and create a vivid seasonal spectacle with zinnias.

Regulars 10 On Location Cross the Solent for a slower

IMAGES CLIVE NICHOLS; RAY COX; SHUTTERSTOCK

pace of life on the bucolic Isle of Wight.

12 Out & About News, events, jobs to do – and the most brilliant late-summer borders.

77 Discover Europe Enjoy exclusive access to the finest famous gardens of England.

90 Holiday Competition Your chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime Great British break.

98 Last Word In a garden filled with nameless mysteries, Katherine Swift advises the application of the personal touch.

For more information or to book: W www.judithblacklock.com E school@judithblacklock.com T +44 (0)20 7235 6235

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 7

Life in Bronze 2020 catalogue available. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please get in touch.

Sculptures shipped worldwide directly from the artist’s UK studio.

www.hamishmackie.com • hamish@hamishmackie.com • + 44 (0) 7971 028 098

ON LOCATION

ISLE OF WIGHT

Little England Cross the Solent for a slower pace of life on the sleepy and bucolic Isle of Wight

Take a short ferry ride from Southampton or Portsmouth, both easily reached by train from London’s Waterloo station.

T

he Isle of Wight may be small, but there’s plenty to see and do, and it’s made all the more exciting for having to catch a ferry to get there. Hop on board at Southampton, Portsmouth or Lymington and disembark 40 minutes or so later to discover the island’s sandy beaches, and distinctive coastline – including The Needles, jagged chalk stacks on the island’s most westerly point. There is

10 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

scenic countryside criss-crossed by footpaths and cycleways for explorers, while Cowes Week brings sailors from across the globe to take part in the world’s largest and oldest sailing regatta. The island is famous for garlic too: call in at The Garlic Farm for a tour and shopping.

The most famous garden on the island is Osborne House, the summer retreat of Queen Victoria, laid out by Prince Albert in the 1840s and restored to its

The renovated terrace gardens at Osborne House are filled with sumptuous bedding displays in summer.

Great Escapes Explore this charming island’s unspoilt coastline, enjoy the freshest seafood and stay in sunny Ventnor STAY IN VENTNOR The Royal Hotel in Ventnor has been welcoming guests through its pretty wrought iron veranda since 1832. Surrounded by exotic gardens, with a swimming pool and nearby beach, the hotel serves excellent food and is the ideal base for exploration. Tel: +44 (0)1983 852186; royalhoteliow.co.uk

IMAGES ALAMY; SHUTTERSTOCK

BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE The Isle of Wight’s 70-mile coastal path can be split into six sections; take them in turn to easily circumnavigate the island. The chalk stacks of the Needles (above) are one of the most iconic sights of the coastline: a spine of tall, jagged rocks rising up from the sea, with a lighthouse at their outer point. The circular Freshwater Bay route takes them in. visitisleofwight.co.uk

Victorian splendour by English Heritage. It’s said that Prince Albert directed work on the Osborne landscape by semaphore from the Pavilion flag tower. english-heritage.org.uk Find roses galore at The Old Rectory in Kingston.

Since owners Derek and Louise Ness took it on in 2002, they have transformed this garden from mostly lawn with a few old shrubs, to a romantic country garden that’s buzzing with wildlife – a much more fitting setting for the Georgian rectory.

Explore the walled kitchen garden with its cut-flower annuals, orchard, two large perennial wildflower meadows, and a beautiful collection of both old and English roses that fill this beautifully designed garden with their fragrance in early summer. theoldrectorykingston.co.uk ■

FOOD AND DRINK Given that this is an island, seafood is an obvious speciality – but there is plenty of other local produce too, from home-made ice cream to island-brewed beer and locally grown fruit and vegetables, including the pungent and delicious bulbs grown at The Garlic Farm (left).

Try Thompson’s in Newport for fine dining or The Hut in Colwell Bay for seafood with a view. roberthompson. co.uk; thehutcolwell.co.uk; thegarlicfarm.co.uk

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 11

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

Out & About Phoebe Jayes recommends British gardens with the best high-summer borders and rounds up jobs to do in the garden as well as the latest news

Summer jobs Plant autumnflowering bulbs such as autumn crocus, colchicums and nerines in a warm, sunny spot out in the garden.

Harvest crops of shallots, onions and garlic by lifting them from the soil and then leaving them to dry out and ripen.

Prune wisteria’s whippy sideshoots to five buds from the main stems to encourage flower buds next year.

Billowing BORDERS Well-planted borders are one of the great joys of a summer garden visit – and each of these five reaches a brilliant peak late in the season Packwood House

Coton Manor

Crathes Castle

Feast your eyes on flamboyant summer borders at Packwood (above) in Warwickshire. The tapestry of flowers here is maintained by highly skilled gardeners in a mingled style, with single plants repeated in busy beds. Tel: +44 (0)1564 782024; nationaltrust.org.uk

You can appreciate the borders at Coton Manor in Northamptonshire (below) from spring to autumn, but the stretches of colour-themed planting reach their peak in August. Tel: +44 (0)1604 740219; cotonmanor.co.uk

Stroll around eight individual sections in the Walled Garden at Aberdeenshire’s Crathes Castle, enjoying the kaleidoscopic colours of the themed summer borders, plus pools and fountains. Tel: +44 (0)1330 844525; nts.org.uk

RHS Wisley Arley Hall The double borders at Arley are the best-known feature of this eight-acre Cheshire garden. Created over the past 250 years by the same family, they are thought to be the first of their kind in England.

Tel: +44 (0)1565 777353; arleyhallandgardens.com 12 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The mixed borders at Wisley in Surrey run either side of a wide path. In summer, they are the jewel in the garden’s crown, with a hot section including persicaria and ligularia, and a cooler pastel section filled with phlox and catmint.

Tel: +44 (0)1483 224234; rhs.org.uk

On a dry day, collect seeds from hardy annuals into paper bags and sieve away the debris. Store seed in a cool dry place.

Don’t forget to water and feed plants in hanging baskets and containers.

Take cuttings of woody herbs such as rosemary and sage.

They’ll root within four to six weeks when you can pot them up.

AWARD FOR David Harber

REPTON

David Harber, the sculpture, sundial and water-feature maker, has been awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade. These awards, which are announced each year on HM The Queen’s birthday, recognise exceptional achievement and are one of the highest honours a UK company can receive. The award recognises David Harber’s overseas sales, which have grown considerably over the past three years as gardeners across the globe seek the contemporary and classical elegant artworks he produces from his Oxfordshire studio. davidharber.co.uk

The team at Woburn Abbey, whose estate was designed

by Humphry Repton in 1814, has been awarded an RHS bursary to visit Endsleigh in Devon, the gardens of which Repton also designed. Having studied Repton’s famous ‘red books’, the Woburn team recognised a number of similarities between the Abbey’s gardens and Endsleigh’s – the hope is that what they learn from exploring Endsleigh with its gardeners and historian Keir Davidson will help inform ongoing planting and landscaping choices as Woburn continues its phased 25-year restoration plan. woburnabbey.co.uk

and Woburn

Gardening is GOOD FOR YOU

IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST/CHRIS LACEY; COTON MANOR; SHUTTERSTOCK; JAYNE LLOYD; NGS

Research by the Royal Horticultural Society in conjunction with the University of Exeter has shown that spending time in the garden has the same benefits for health and wellbeing as living in a wealthy area. The 8,000 people analysed found that those who spent time in gardens had better health and wellbeing and took part in more physical activity.

The benefits of gardening to health were similar to the difference in health between people living in wealthier parts of the country and the poorest.

NGS Garden of the Month This stunning two-acre garden set around 17th-century Hurdley Hall (not open to the public) boasts herbaceous and mixed borders that are brimming with seasonal colour. Ponds, topiary and a kitchen garden add to the magic, while mown paths leading through the glorious five-acre Coronation Meadow take you on to a newly planted orchard, pastures and ancient woodland. The steep slopes offer stunning views out across the surrounding countryside and adjoining Roundton Hill National Nature Reserve. Hurdley Hall, Hurdley, Churchstoke, Powys SY15 6DY. Should open for the National Garden Scheme on 4 and 5 July and 2 August, but visit ngs.org.uk for the latest updates on 2020’s open days and to order a copy of the 2020 Garden Visitor’s Handbook, the guide to NGS gardens opening throughout the year.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 13

Sheer BRILLIANCE With riotous borders, high-maintenance planting and full-on colour, the awe-inspiring gardens at Malverleys in Hampshire are testament to head gardener Mat Reese and his intensive approach WORDS CLARE COULSON PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

14 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Neptune wields his trident in a dramatic grotto designed by Stephen Pettifer; Mat Reese plans to increase its height.

M

ost notable gardens are developed over a lifetime, or at least a few decades, but very few evolve as rapidly as the flower gardens at Malverleys in Hampshire. In just eight years, head gardener Mat Reese has orchestrated a series of borders that deliver an extraordinary sensory overload, peaking in spectacular style in high summer.

The Italianate, pale-brick Victorian house, tenacre garden and the 19th-century parkland that surrounds it, sit on the edge of the North Wessex Downs, south of Newbury. When its owners bought

16 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above A fearless planting approach sees statuesque willow herb allowed to mingle with towering verbascums.

it in 2010 they hired Mat, who had worked at Kew, Wisley, and with Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter, to rethink the gardens.

After spending a year observing the existing space, Mat felt that the elegant house needed to be linked to the original walled kitchen garden that sits on the western edge of the property and which had already undergone a redesign by Tom Stuart-Smith for a previous owner. And after visiting other gardens (including Dixter, Gravetye Manor and Ninfa), the owners and Mat decided to create an English flower garden housed over a series of formal rooms. The results are nothing less than awe-inspiring.

Above Soft-focus

wildflowers form an impressionistic canvas for elegantly shaped yew topiary.

Below The house now sits within a series of formal garden rooms with generous borders.

The exquisite cool garden where substantial yew hedging surrounds a quad of pretty and atmospheric mixed borders, is typical of the approach here. The reclaimed Yorkstone for the paths was sourced from the mills around Halifax and laid without mortar, so it feels as though it’s been in situ for decades, while low wooden gates were designed by Mat using a Chippendale Chinese pattern and made on the Wirral. Shrubs such as magnolia or a Cornus alternifolia ‘Argentea’ were planted large for instant structure, but plenty of others, including ceanothus, willows and a Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Thundercloud’ were grown from cuttings or planted small. Around them is a heady mix of irises, delphiniums, campanula, phlox, cirsium and sanguisorba, thalictrum and veronicastrum.

Even early in the season before the real show kicks off, it’s all breathtakingly beautiful. “If you are a gardener, you want to make the garden work as hard as possible for you. We garden intensively here; we embrace the succession mentality,” says Mat, who oversees a team of four who also look after the estate’s livestock, including sheep, cattle and chickens. “This is what I get excited about – getting the self-seeders going,” he adds, pointing to a group of Lunaria annua var. albiflora ‘Alba Variegata’ that began as a few seedlings and has now spread.

Nowhere does this ethos sing more loudly than in the terrace borders that sweep along the rear of the house, providing a riotous high-summer display in a dazzling palette of hot pinks, acid yellows and steel blues that teeters tantalisingly on the edge of chaos. At the outset they considered improving the thin stony soil, but opted to work with it using selfAUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 17

Above Sweeping vistas cut across different areas, here from the pond garden to the distant chicken house.

Below Kniphofia, bright yellow verbascum and evening primrose never obscure the views.

18 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

sowers: centranthus, opium poppies, campanula, nigella, evening primrose, euphorbia and numerous verbascum cultivars all thrive in these conditions. “It’s constantly at a point where things are about to take over. Sometimes it’s the dieramas or the dianthus or verbascums and it’s a matter of being on top of it the whole time – taking out enough so that one thing doesn’t monopolise,” says Mat. This is high-maintenance gardening. The terrace is a constant experiment where potential thugs like willow herb sit alongside clouds of Ammi majus or swathes of delphiniums. Just as it is at Dixter, there are pockets of bedding that are all carefully timed to flower in succession to continue the dynamic feeling.

Atmosphere is central to the way the garden has been designed, and joining the more formal areas are magical interludes. “I love the idea of going through small tight spaces and using these corridors. It’s another way to deal with emotion in the garden,”

Above The new Apostle

Garden features yew cones and a sea of Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’.

Right Intricate lacecap hydrangea flowers.

Below Ferns have settled into the recently created prehistoric stumpery.

The terrace is a constant experiment where potential thugs like willow herb sit alongside clouds of Ammi majus says Mat of a small woodland garden in the making, with ferns, lilies, Paris polyphylla, cardiocrinum and the gorgeous pink umbels of Chaerophyllum hirsutum ‘Roseum’.

Beyond it is an immersive stumpery – also a work in progress but already resembling a Jurassic fantasy with stacked stumps from the surrounding woodland and tree ferns teetering on top of them, all kept moist with a misting system. There’s still more to be done here – work on this area began only in 2015 – but already there are carpets of moss, self-seeding foxgloves, Arisaema griffithii and ferns, including one that Mat collected on a plant-hunting trip in the Himalayas. “We’ve been growing it in the greenhouse so we thought we would throw it outside and see how hardy it is,” he says.

The garden’s success is also down to his precise design, which offers up plenty of amazing vistas.

Strong axes provide vantage points across different enclosed spaces: from the top of the tranquil, reflective pond garden, with its water nymph statue AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 19

PROMOTION

FROM BOOK TO BRONZE The Chelsea Flower Show Gold Star award-winning sculptors of Robert James Workshop create captivating bronze water features and sculptures to bring magic to your garden

Clockwise from left Alice in Wonderland sculpture in bronze; Mr. Jeremy Fisher and Peter Rabbit eating Radishes, inspired by the much-loved Beatrix Potter tales; The Gorse Fairies; Sculptors James Coplestone (top) and Robert Ellis.

R

obert and James, better known as Bob and Jim, have been best of friends for over 30 years. They share a passion for stories, illustration and sculpture, and together they have embarked on many creative adventures.

Just over ten years ago, Jim attended the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time. It was an extraordinary day, brimming with colour, inspiration and the surprising realisation that there were no sculptures woven around stories. This was the moment that Alice in Wonderland rose from the page and the idea of a limited-edition run of bronze sculptures based on the classic story was ignited in Jim’s creative and quirky mind.

Turning a page in a book to see an illustration that brings the story to life is magical. Even in today’s digital world, the page of the book is where it all begins.

20 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

English classics such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland illustrated by Sir John Tenniel, Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit and Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies are faithfully modelled from the original illustrations.

Robert and James were invited by Penguin Books, who own the copyright on these treasured creations, to work directly from the archives held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The pair use old, hand-made tools and finger prints to press, move and model clay into position, capturing the breath of the characters, as if they have momentarily stepped out of the book and into the three-dimensional world.

Once modelled in clay, the pieces are cast in bronze and the highly collectible sculptures are installed in gardens, weaving their unique magic.

Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens on Dorset’s beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Jurassic coast, are the perfect backdrop to the permanent Wonderland Sculpture Trail. Explore the floral pathways of this exotic garden to discover these childhood characters in a timeless setting. The Robert James Workshop, nestled within these gardens, offers a chance for visitors by prior appointment to meet the artists and purchase work. Each piece is created in the UK and can be delivered worldwide.

To find out more tel: +44 (0)7515 126119 or visit robertjamesworkshop.com

Malverleys’ VIBRANT PLANTS A heady mix of colourful biennials and perennials play their part in bright, fulsome borders

LUPINUS ‘MORELLO CHERRY’

ALSTROEMERIA ‘FLAMING STAR’

OENOTHERA STRICTA

Cherry red spikes will flower in the first year from an early sowing of this lupin.

This satsuma-coloured, 80cm tall alstroemeria likes a sheltered spot.

The foliage of this evening primrose species is tinged red and the flowers are deliciously scented. Height: 50cm.

VERBASCUM GNAPHALODES

ALCEA ROSEA

RUDBECKIA HIRTA

A rarely seen, towering species with woolly stems bearing yellow flowers.

Sow biennial hollyhocks in spring and plant out during summer for tall spikes of colourful flowers next summer.

This vigorous, golden-flowered daisy thrives in sun or dappled shade and is an excellent choice for heavier soils.

KNIPHOFIA ‘FIERY FRED’

ERYNGIUM ‘BIG BLUE’

CROCOSMIA ‘HELLFIRE’

Deep-orange flowers are freely produced on this amenable, 65cm redhot poker, made for a sunny spot.

One of the best eryngiums, developing stronger blue tones as the flowers mature. It’s also fantastic for bees.

The pure scarlet flowers of this cultivar are considered by many to be superior to ‘Lucifer’. Stems are upright and 90cm tall.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 21

lounging beneath a Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’, one long view sweeps through the Flame Borders (so called for their fiery high-summer mix of lupins, kniphofia, helenium and sunflowers) and on towards the topiary meadow with its poppies and cornfield annuals and the raised chicken house beyond.

And there are subtle changes of tempo too, most notably in the peaceful water garden enclosed by Cotswold stone walls and with a central avenue of multi-stemmed Prunus ‘Fugenzo’ that leads to a statue of Neptune sitting in a grotto built by Stephen Pettifer. Specimen roses including ‘Meg’, ‘Eden Rose’, ‘New Dawn’ and ‘Veilchenblau’ are being trained across the walls, and a few self-seeders are allowed to pop up here too.

It’s clear that Mat is not likely to take his foot off the pedal any time soon. The latest addition is the Apostle Garden, a parterre with yew topiary and a monoculture of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ that sits between the house and a newly constructed chapel, and he is constantly reassessing the other areas, which include an exotic garden, a white garden within the kitchen garden and woodland areas. “We are always on edge, always pushing things. I could take a step back and not garden so intensively. I could have created something that was easier to look after,” says Mat, as he stands at the end of his dazzling terrace border. “But it wouldn’t be my cup of tea – it would be boring.” ■ 22 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above Mat designed

the enormous fruit cages, based on a design from West Green House.

Right Clouds of Ammi majus with delphiniums.

Starting from SCRATCH Mat Reese offers advice on creating a new garden, with pointers on layout and planting Observe: “When you have a new garden and lots of ideas it’s tempting to move quickly, but it’s sometimes better to observe and spend time working out and narrowing down what you want.”

Enclose or open it up: “Christo always said that when you first reach a site you’ve got to decide whether you want to keep your view or go for shelter and shut the view out. The benefit of creating a series of smaller garden rooms is that you can also create different atmospheres.”

Give it time: “When you build a new garden, particularly one on this sort of scale, it will take a few years to settle down. Some things work, some don’t. Shrubs start to grow and compete with herbaceous plants, which can force your hand to change things, but all this helps to make it a more dynamic space.”

Know your plants: “The most important thing anywhere with lots of self-seeders is to know the seedlings – understanding what to leave and what not to leave.”

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Dawn breaks over the coastal garden at Quoy of Houton, Orkney, casting soft light over the long, iris-edged rill.

24 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Blown AWAY

At the Quoy of Houton on Orkney’s Mainland, Caroline and Kevin Critchlow’s garden constitutes a magnificent triumph over the unrelentingly fierce winds WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS NICOLA STOCKEN

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here can be few less hospitable places to establish a garden than the Orkney Islands, which are so often lashed by salt-laden winds that scorch foliage, stunt growth and uproot newly established plants. “Alan Titchmarsh advises that you plant trees first, creating the bones of the garden and a shelterbelt, but you can’t do that here,” says Caroline Critchlow, who has nonetheless created a remarkable garden overlooking the waters of Scapa Flow.

“When I am told something is impossible, it just makes me all the more determined to have a go,” she adds. Fortunately, Caroline’s husband, Kevin, not only agreed with her, but brought his skills as a dry stone wall craftsman to bear on creating a permanent structure for additional resilience.

The couple make a formidable team. “Neither of us could have created this garden without the other,” Caroline insists.

It was 2008 when they moved to the Quoy of Houton, a stone cottage that was built by an Orcadian laird in 1780.

Having ousted the resident pig from the cottage, Caroline stood at a first-floor window dreaming up plans for the derelict walled garden below. “My theory is that the winds create a vortex in the middle areas, which is why we laid a lawn and dug the rill there,” she explains.

Over the past decade, they have transformed the windswept, half-acre plot by building several, small, walled courtyards, creating a 20-metre-long rill that runs down the centre of the lawn, and establishing raised beds to give some protection from regular incursions by storm-force winds. “From the outset, I had to decide whether I was going to maintain the view, or plant shelter belts that would obscure it – I decided to garden to the view,” Caroline says.

A priority was to create different seating areas around the garden, so as to always have somewhere sheltered to sit.

“We don’t have a specific prevailing wind,” she points out.

“It just comes from every which way.”

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 25

Above Rusted iron

poppy seedheads stand sentinel by the water.

Above right The dry stone teardrop at the end of the rill was built

by Kevin Critchlow.

It has often been an uphill struggle. Kevin first had to demolish two disused buildings in order to salvage 100 tonnes of local stone needed for the garden. “Everything is recycled, nothing is wasted,” he says. Roof stones from a derelict barn were used to edge the rill, which was initially a long, single pond that dissected the garden. “When we dug it out, we re-used the soil in the raised beds – they heat up quickly and drain well, so it has all worked out,” he points out. However, attempts to establish aquatic plants failed because waves often built up and washed the plants to the far end. “We tried planting in baskets attached to breeze blocks, but they tore the

26 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

liner, so we emptied the pond, divided it into two sections, relined it with butyl and planted afresh.”

Meanwhile, Caroline had to adapt to gardening in winds so strong that she regularly had to retrieve her glasses from wherever they landed. However, by dint of ignoring conventional wisdom and experimenting to find the toughest plants, she patiently filled beds and borders with plants from local fairs, or cuttings gleaned from fellow Orkney gardeners. “The first cuttings I was given were hebe bushes, which have thrived, but I have lost a lot along the way,” she admits. First, and most importantly, she established a low-growing shelter belt of dense, salt-resistant, evergreen shrubs – hebes, pampas grass, escallonia, fuchsias, Rosa rugosa, olearias, cordylines and phormiums – to afford protection to a palette of herbaceous perennials that flower throughout the summer.

Anything to temper strong winds is a bonus, but nothing could withstand the 90mph winds that hit last June. “I’d just given some perennials the Chelsea Chop, and the garden had never looked better,” Caroline recalls. “In the space of 12 hours, it was decimated, just before a party of Australians were due to visit. I went indoors, closed the curtains and wept.” This year, as a contingency, she is planting up plastic pots with foxgloves, lupins and alliums. “I’ll keep them protected, ready to slot into borders to replace damaged plants,” she says.

Clockwise from top

A boat-shaped arbour is a nod to the garden’s coastal location; a statue, perfectly framed by its stone alcove, alchemilla and poppies; Caroline and Kevin Critchlow with Crumble, their Jack Russell terrier; a low-growing clump of Armeria maritima.

By some miracle, a few foxgloves survived and, to her surprise, alliums are proving irrepressible. “The secret is not to tie them to stakes – when the wind is strong, the stems rub against the string and can snap,” Caroline explains. There are also some David Austin roses, ‘A Shropshire Lad’ and ‘Claire Austin’, which are establishing in sheltered spots around the cottage. A particular find is Olearia ‘Henry Travers’, a tender but wind-tolerant shrub that flourishes here, erupting each summer with mauve and purple daisy-like flowers. “I’ve given away a lot of cuttings, and it now crops up in quite a few gardens across the island,” Caroline notes.

Clumps of Libertia grandiflora provide a long season of white flower spikes, along with frothy alchemilla, pink bistort, catmint, angelica, hostas, crocosmias, cirsiums and flag irises. “The irises also grow in the wild, edging the narrow lane that leads to our cottage.” Californian poppies have seeded themselves along the front stone terrace, while sea pinks cling determinedly to the tops of walls. Dotted around are wooden benches, arbours, arches and obelisks, all painted bright blue, a match for the brilliant shade that infuses the sea on sunny days.

“In winter, they provide colour when the sea is grey, and herbaceous plants have retreated underground leaving the beds bare,” Caroline explains.

The couple moved to the Orkney Islands from a cottage in the Peak District. “We first came here on our honeymoon – I’d imagined visiting the Maldives, but Kevin wanted Skara Brae!” Caroline recalls.

They both fell in love with the Orkneys and moved here 11 years ago. Initially, Caroline worked as a teacher, while Kevin renovated outbuildings for holiday lets, simultaneously working with stone, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 27

Quoy of Houton’s

WIND-PROOF PLANTS Tough characters for exposed locations

OLEARIA ‘HENRY TRAVERS’

GERANIUM ‘DRAGON HEART’

This evergreen shrub has grey, willow-like foliage and produces large, mauve, daisy-like flowers in June.

This hardy geranium will weave its way through borders, bearing large, magenta, black-eyed flowers.

OLEARIA MACRODONTA

IRIS SIBIRICA

A superb evergreen shrub for the seaside, with toothed, leathery leaves and clusters of small, daisy-like flowers.

ROSA ‘ROSERAIE DE L’HAŸ’ One of the rugosa roses, this cultivar bears strongly perfumed, rich purple-pink flowers on tough bushes.

The elegant, violet-blue blooms of Siberian irises rise from clumps of grass-like leaves. They like sun and moist but well-drained soil.

GERANIUM PRATENSE ‘SPLISH SPLASH’ Striped blooms appear from May on this hardy geranium.

Cut back after flowering.

28 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above Tall stone walls building walls and the ward off stiff sea breezes beautiful sculptural stone and safely shelter this forms that grace their bright collection of pots in a small courtyard area. garden here.

Hardy geraniums crop up throughout and, however battered, recover very quickly after their blackened foliage is cut back.

“Give them a short back and sides and a bit of sun, and in a few days they recover,” Caroline notes.

Geranium x magnificum is one of the star plants here, an irrepressible force that self-seeds along the island’s grassy verges, interspersed by clumps of wild rhubarb. It is joined by other hardy geraniums, including some that were specifically bred on Orkney by Alan Bremner.

Last year, Kevin completed the Moongate Garden in which Caroline plans to showcase Orkneybred hardy geraniums. “I wanted the feel of a secret garden, with a wow-factor entrance that requires you to bend slightly to enter,” she explains.

So far, she has established lupins, centaureas, nectaroscordum, irises, alliums and clumps of the small, silver-edged Alchemilla alpina, which she grows in preference to Alchemilla mollis – “It’s not as thuggish.” Annoyingly, red-hot pokers, which happily establish in nearby hedgerows, are unobliging. “I think they dislike competition from other plants around them,” she muses.

It is just four years since Caroline decided to plant alongside the rill. Rainwater from the roof runs into the upper pond, which is connected via a pipe to the lower pond where excess water overflows into a bog garden. Here there are primulas, astilbes, Siberian and flag irises and gardener’s garters, Phalaris arundinacea var. picta. “At one-and-a-half metres deep, it’s too deep for herons to wade in, and too narrow for arctic terns to snatch fish – it was a lucky accident,” Caroline admits. The upper pond planting includes alchemilla, catmint, libertia, hardy

geraniums, crocosmias and foxgloves have and alliums. proved surprisingly Caroline is gradually resilient, withstanding establishing successional the fierce winds. planting, concentrating for now on the early part of the season with some 15 rare snowdrops sourced from Cambo Gardens in St Andrews, Scotland. These are followed by Iris reticulata, dwarf narcissi including ‘Tête-à-tête’ and ‘Minnow’, and finally tulips. “It’s vital to have something low-growing and resilient in flower from March to early June, as a contingency against the gales,” she explains.

Because the location is so far north, the summer days are long, but the actual growing season is short here, starting in early May and ending with the first strong winds of autumn. “Summer usually ends abruptly,” Caroline notes philosophically. Even so, a small south-facing vegetable garden – wedged between solar panels and a boundary wall – is surprisingly productive, with vegetables, delicious soft fruit and an apple tree that’s espaliered against a stone wall. “It cost £1 from the supermarket and, in its first year, I picked eight apples!” she recalls with satisfaction.

This is a garden of huge contrasts: an ordered kitchen garden within a scene of wild beauty, and weather switching swiftly from azure skies to raging storms. “The garden changes throughout the day, so beavering away is never boring,” says Caroline, “And when the sea gleams like a sapphire and there’s not a breath of wind, there is no better place to be.” ■

NOTEBOOK

Below Purple alliums

Elemental design A perfect partnership, Kevin’s skilful work with stone and Caroline’s pragmatic planting choices combine to create a memorable garden

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The Quoy of Houton, Mid Quoy, Petertown, Orphir, Orkney KW17 2RD. Tel: +44 (0)1856 811237; c.kritchlow258@btinternet.com; orkneybedandbreakfast.org.uk

4

1 The garden usually opens for the Orkney Garden Festival, founded by Caroline to raise money for the Friends of the Neuro Ward at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where Kevin was treated for a brain tumour. 2 After his illness, Kevin wasn’t sure if he could work with stone again. As a test, he built this sculpture. 3 ‘Sirak’ is a hardy geranium bred on Orkney by Alan Bremner. 4 Caroline is trialling panels made from trellis or battens and covered in permeable fabric to slow the wind, rather than diverting it.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 29

The wisteria-cloaked manor house overlooks wonderfully romantic planting in borders and large terracotta pots.

30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Where Time STANDS STILL The gardens around Somerset’s historic Cothay Manor may have subtly changed over the centuries, but their timeless magic remains unaltered WORDS AMBRA EDWARDS PHOTOGRAPHS MIMI CONNOLLY

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 31

Above Mexican daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus, self-seeds into every nook and cranny of the courtyard garden.

Left A mirror-like reflection in the lake’s perfectly still surface.

I

t is five years since I was last at Cothay Manor. Things have changed. And nothing has changed. Five years is a twinkling of an eye in the life of this old house, which has slumbered in its Somerset dell for 500 years.

To see the medieval gate tower reflected in the glassy lake and the wisterias grown to prodigious girth along the venerable walls, to push open a centuries-old door and enter a courtyard of green, cloistered calm, is to step out of the 21st century into the timeless world of fairy tale. That pretty horned creature nestling among clouds of nepeta in Cothay’s famous Unicorn Garden might well, the moment your back is turned, leap up and skip among the

32 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

trees. For history and fantasy blur in a place where annual rent was once a double rose and a set of silver spurs; where the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York still flower together on the terrace. Richard Bluett, who rebuilt the house in the late 15th century, is said to have planted the first of them in 1485 to mark the end of the Wars of the Roses.

Things have changed. Last time I was here, the chatelaine of Cothay, Mary-Anne Robb, and her husband Alastair, were busy packing for a rare holiday, leaving the garden in the charge of their daughter, Charlotte. Mary-Anne had high hopes of passing on her gardening mantle to Charlie, who was diligently learning her mother’s formidable horticultural skills. Today, Alastair lies buried beneath the spiral mount he created some 20 years ago. “I put him there,” says Mary-Anne, “so he could keep watch over the garden.” Meanwhile, Charlie has married and moved to Cornwall. What, then, will become of the garden, when Mary-Anne finally hangs up her gardening gloves?

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” says Mary-Anne briskly. If she were the kind of woman to weep, weep she might, for she has worked like a dog for 25 years to create this vision. Instead, she strides out into the rain in her jaunty, striped wellingtons and

Cothay’s creator, Lt. Col. Reggie Cooper, was very much inspired by his friend Lawrence Johnston at Hidcote.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 33

concentrates on living for the moment.

She loves the garden in spring, when phalanxes of white tulips, in her phrase, “march through the garden like an army of angels”. She adores the early days of May, the garden trembling in the wings before its great summer performance, so full of promise. And above all she treasures the fleeting perfection of those few short weeks of high summer when “the garden holds us in the palm of its hand like a Persian carpet”, the exuberant borders overflowing with colour, the warm evening air heavy with scent.

Another change is the loss of Cothay’s box features to blight. Mary-Anne has not been disheartened, however. “A garden that doesn’t change is dead,” she declares. The box that once confined the terrace has been replaced with small lollies of Ilex crenata, so the terrace flows more easily into the garden, and the ravishing display of dierama and daisies romping over the flagstones can be enjoyed from afar. She is pleased with this looser, more naturalistic effect: “It feels like the house is growing out of the garden.”

Similarly, a box parterre that once stood at the end of the lawn has been cleared to reveal a circular stone pool that now forms the focus of a new Italian garden. A 150-year-old olive tree stands in each corner with scented thyme puddling around its feet.

It is easier to maintain and also spacious and calm – 34 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Top left A cheery argyranthemum in pink shades with sweet peas.

Top right Early morning mist hangs over the lake.

Above Generous borders and billowing pots give a feeling of abundance within the walls of yew.

a fine counterpoint to the medley of high-performing spaces that make up the bulk of the garden.

Cothay is a garden of ‘rooms’, laid out in the 1920s, with more than a passing resemblance to Hidcote, the famous Arts and Crafts garden in Gloucestershire. Indeed, Cothay’s creator, aesthete and collector Lt. Col. Reggie Cooper, was a friend of Lawrence Johnson and knew Hidcote well. Like Johnson, he employed the device of a long walk enclosed with high hedges of yew, a green corridor linking a series of richly planted hedged enclosures.

This was the structure that the Robbs inherited when they arrived at Cothay in 1993, along with some fine old trees. But the planting was lost, so for the first few years they concentrated on reshaping hedges and creating new vistas through sequences of garden rooms, while they gutted the garden and put down black plastic to kill the ubiquitous ground elder. While they waited, Alastair planted more

Cothay Manor’s FLORAL STARS In this romantic garden, annuals, perennials and roses create a glorious melee of flowers

CROCOSMIA ‘LUCIFER’

ANEMONE X HYBRIDA ‘HONORINE JOBERT’

ROSA X ODORATA ‘MUTABILIS’

Pristine white flowers in late summer on this elegant Japanese anemone.

A billowing, romantic rose with flowers that change from cerise to apricot.

COSMOS ‘SENSATION’

SALVIA

Sow floriferous cosmos in mid-spring and plant out after the last frost for long-lasting displays of daisy flowers.

Herbaceous salvias such as S. patens boast flowers in a range of blues, but need protection from frost in cool areas.

COSMOS BIPINNATUS ‘SONATA CARMINE’

CLEOME ‘ROSE QUEEN’

ECHEVERIA GLAUCA

A show-stopping half-hardy annual grown for its scented wispy flowers with a hint of the tropics. Can reach 1m tall.

This succulent makes a lovely container plant, especially in summer when coral and yellow flowers rise from its rosettes.

The classic crocosmia for a fountain of sword-shaped leaves and a plethora of arching, scarlet, summer flowers.

Vivid magenta blooms are held on 40cm tall stems with feathery foliage.

ARGYRANTHEMUM MADEIRA SERIES Ever-popular bedding for containers and borders, producing clouds of flowers.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 35

NOTEBOOK

Controlled Abandon Cothay has been described as ‘the most perfect small 15th-century house in England’ and is set off by the most romantic of gardens

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trees, which MaryAnne, with aching heart, now has to thin.

When planting began here, there really was no holding back. The impression at Cothay is of immense abundance, each colour-themed room crammed to bursting with gorgeousness: flowers spill from gloriously over-filled pots and climbers scramble through hedges. Particularly lovely is the inner courtyard, where Verbena bonariensis and Erigeron karvinskianus have seeded around to create a cloud of bloom.

The reality is that iron discipline and ruthless editing create this sense of abandon: restricting the number of different plants and repeating them through the border to create rhythm; repeating key plants through the garden, such as her beloved Rosa x odorata ‘Mutabilis’; encouraging judicious selfseeding, while removing anything that might detract from the harmony of the scene. Atmosphere is all.

No one puts it better than Mary-Anne herself: “Where you live casts its influence over you; something of the charm of the past lingers in the air.

Other than the seasons, little changes here. If you close your eyes and open your soul you can feel the eternal peace of Cothay.” ■

3

Above A weathered

statue keeps watch over the fairy-tale setting of the Unicorn Garden.

Cothay Manor, Greenham, Nr Wellington, Somerset TA21 0JR. Tel: +44 (0)1823 672283; cothaymanor.co.uk 36 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

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1 The Robbs gutted the garden, reviving Cooper’s hedged enclosures with new planting. 2 Plantaholic Mary-Anne uses odd plants here and

there, like purple-berried American pokeweed, Phytolacca americana.

3 Shub rose R. x odorata ‘Mutabilis’ is a favourite. She has persuaded it to climb up a south-facing wall, where it flowers for months. 4 The romantic courtyard has sweet peas scrambling through old ironwork while scented pelargoniums are set out on a weathered table.

PROMOTION

WORKING WITH WATER Internationally renowned sculptor Giles Rayner creates bespoke fountains and water sculptures imbued with imagination and timeless elegance for gardens and large-scale public installations

Clockwise from left Giles Rayner’s The Arches of Oman in Muscat; a copper bowl inspired by the Fibonacci sequence at Chelsea Flower Show; Lasso highlights the dramatic effects Giles can create with water; Topiary was inspired by plants.

F

rom his rural studio in England’s Cotswolds, Giles Rayner crafts stunning water sculptures for private gardens and public spaces across the globe, from Europe and the Middle East, to the US and Asia.

Since 1998 Giles has been creating imaginative and individual pieces, most often in copper, stainless steel and bronze. He has a long-standing love of metalwork and enjoys its versatility in combination with water.

Combining energy and intrigue with simple aesthetic beauty, often at considerable scale, each sculpture fits seamlessly with the landscape and architecture that surrounds it. Those pieces that feature moving water immediately captivate the senses, whether that’s with drama or in a more

peaceful way. Giles takes particular pleasure from finding innovative ways to use water by combining science and his own intuition – this remarkable substance does not always behave as you’d expect.

His sculptures combine old skills with new innovation, so each artwork is designed to stand the test of time. For larger projects Giles works with a team of experts who specialise in fields such as structural engineering or 3D modelling, enabling him to take on complex public installations such as The Arches of Oman, which stands in front of Muscat’s Royal Opera House. Two entwined stainless steel tusks sinuously reach 12m high, a patterned array of water erupting from their inner surfaces.

On a smaller scale at just 12 feet tall, the intricate copper sculpture Topiary marries

elegance and engineering to create a water feature that enhances its setting without dominating it, complementing and enriching the backdrop. Giles has always had a passion for the outdoors and the influence of natural beauty can be seen in his work.

Most of his water sculptures are individual commissions, but limited editions or variations on some of the existing designs can be made. Giles is a strong believer in creating designs that fit beautifully into their setting, whether that’s a rural garden or a modern cityscape, and he travels widely to study sites for new concepts and to install pieces. gilesrayner.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 37

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Looking across the maze, which has a pearshaped sculpture made from garden tools set on a mound at its centre.

FRUITFUL Endeavours

Assisted by designer Arne Maynard, regular staff and a team of volunteers, Angus and Zara Gordon Lennox have set out to create one of Scotland’s most attractive productive working walled gardens at Gordon Castle in Morayshire WORDS JULIA WATSON PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 39

E

Top The view across the

cutting garden, filled with chrysanthemums and sweet peas, used to decorate guest rooms.

Above Plump grey poppy seedheads are lit up by the sun.

nter Gordon Castle’s walled garden, and the vista that opens up before you will take your breath away. This is a vast space, eight acres in all, and it is a shining example of immaculate kitchen gardening, filled with a wealth of cutting-garden flowers and herbs. At its heart, waves of lavender surround a dipping pond, while at the edge, fruit trees fan out against aged brick walls.

From an area that five years ago grew only hay, Angus and Zara Gordon Lennox have made a brand new productive garden that has put their corner of north-east Scotland firmly on the horticultural map.

In developing it, they had the assistance of awardwinning designer Arne Maynard, who created a plan that would provide food and flowers and also be beautiful enough to draw visitors from far and wide.

Close to the entrance, a large Victorian glasshouse

by Edinburgh firm Mackenzie & Moncur has been restored and now nurtures seedlings, plus tender crops such as chillies, tomatoes and melons. An area in a far corner of the garden is dedicated to soft fruit, and on the other side is a burgeoning cherry orchard, adorned with a decorative ribbon of grass mounds.

40 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Surrounding the lavender and colour-themed flower beds at the centre of the garden, steel hoops support pear trees that are being trained into tunnels, and elm posts and rails carry hundreds of espaliered apples that line the borders and form stepover edging to the paths. The garden is not just about produce, however. There’s a mown-grass maze, an arena for summer performances and trees have been turned into a play area for children.

Angus took over Gordon Castle and its estate from his father in 2008. It used to belong to the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon, and Angus’s grandfather, a descendant of the 7th Duke managed to buy it back for his family after World War II, pulling down much of the dilapidated 18th-century castle to create a comfortable, and still sizeable, country mansion.

Until Angus and Zara took over, the emphasis had been on farming, fishing and holiday cottages, but Angus saw a need to diversify to secure the estate’s future. Once the couple had revamped the castle and cottages and taken care of other essential work, they turned their focus to the walled garden.

They had a blank canvas to work with. In the 1950s, Angus’s grandmother had grown raspberries

there commercially, after which it had been rented out as a market garden, but for the past 15 years it had simply been put down to grass. “At the time, we just got the farmer in to mow the grass once or twice a year,” Angus says. “It made 60 one-ton bales of hay. And the Mackenzie & Moncur greenhouse was just about collapsed. My father had been desperate to bring in the bulldozers, but I managed to stop him. We looked at the garden and thought: what are we going to do with it?”

Although little remained of what had been a thriving kitchen garden, there were survivors, not least the original garden walls, built in the early 1800s from around a million bricks, for which a dedicated brickworks had been established on site.

Even more remarkably, 250 old fruit trees that had been trained against the walls were still in good shape: apricots, cherries, apples, pears and plums, including special varieties bred at Gordon Castle in the 19th century to suit the local climate, such as plum ‘Gordon Castle’ and apples ‘Beauty of Moray’ and ‘Northern Dumpling’. “The old gardener was a chap called Willie Robertson, who started working

Clockwise from top left

The mown-meadow maze entices visitors; proud spires of painted sage, Salvia viridis; a glimpse of the old walls built with bricks made on site; translucent silk petals of poppy, with purple aquilega and silvery eryngium.

Waves of lavender surround a dipping pond, while fruit trees fan out against aged brick walls here in 1946, and kept the trees in order,” Angus explains. Zara adds: “Even when he had retired, Angus’s grandparents paid Willie to prune the trees once a year, and that’s why they survived.”

Horticulturally and financially, restoring the garden was an enormous project, but Angus and Zara hoped that a properly productive garden could pay its way by underpinning other ventures. There AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 41

would be fresh food for an on-site café, cut flowers for sale, essential oils for bath and body products, fruit for jams, chutneys and ciders, and even botanicals to go into a special Gordon Castle gin.

Angus began talking to garden designers who might be able to help: “One wanted a traditional Victorian garden, another wanted it modern with concrete buildings and lots of grasses, someone else told me I was bonkers, don’t even think about it – and the fourth one was Arne.” Angus attended a kitchen gardening course run by Arne Maynard at his home, Allt-y-bela, in Monmouthshire and saw that Arne’s passion for vegetable gardening and his plant knowledge combined with his design talent, made him suited to the revival of Gordon Castle’s walled garden.

Work began in 2013, and continues today. “We’re two-thirds of the way through,” says Angus. Head gardener Ed Bollom leads a team who sow, plant, pick, weed and prune, while working to complete the garden features: there are still stretches of stepover apples to go in, for instance, together with thousands more crocuses for spring and hedging around the cherry orchard. The meadow maze works well in its current form, but eventually Angus and Zara would like it planted up with something productive.

Cobnuts perhaps? Experimental Camellia sinensis bushes turned up their toes when confronted with Moray’s sandy soil and cold dry winds, so homegrown tea has been crossed off the list of options.

Ed’s past experience includes stints at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and Chatsworth 42 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Apple tree names are evocative: ‘Cambusnethan Pippin’, ‘Scotch Bridget’ and ‘Bloody Ploughman’

Clockwise from top left

Rows of crops, with espaliered trees against the walls; a butter-yellow gourd swells in the sun; green chillies thrive in the restored greenhouse; Gordon Castle Gardens’ vintage bicycle; head gardener Ed Bollom.

House in Derbyshire. More recently, he worked at Highgrove, in Gloucestershire. And it was this that really equipped him for his role at Gordon Castle.

“It was working to a high standard under pressure, and learning about successional planting: keeping vegetables coming all year,” he explains. And most gardens I’ve worked in have been going for 30, 40, 100 years, so this is very exciting.”

Ed is particularly interested in heritage crops.

“We like ones that look good,” he says. “Runner bean ‘Sunset’ has pink flowers, and we like French bean ‘Kentucky Wonder Wax’, which is yellow with a lovely texture.” The team are also trying to collect every Scottish variety of apple. “There are 50 different Scottish ones, and we’ve got 30 of them so far,” says Ed. The names are evocative: ‘Cambusnethan Pippin’, ‘Scotch Bridget’, ‘Bloody Ploughman’ and ‘White Melrose’.

Ed has three full-time and two seasonal staff, and there are 15 volunteers. Some are local, many are pensioners, others are ‘WWOOFers’ who work for their keep under the auspices of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and there are

CROPS IN A cold climate Ed Bollom’s tips on productive gardening in northern Scotland Don’t sow tender seed too early on in the season. We wait until May to sow courgettes, squash and beans in the greenhouse. We rarely plant out until early June, hardening them off and covering with fleece in a late frost.

Warm the soil before sowing direct. Spread black polythene over beds for two weeks before sowing. Raising the soil temperature just a few degrees makes a huge difference.

helpers with disabilities who are supported into employment by the Leonard Cheshire charity: all enjoy the camaraderie and the chance to learn. Davie, who is deaf, makes elm posts for the espaliered apples from wood on the estate and came to Gordon Castle through Leonard Cheshire: he is now the senior landscape gardener.

Zara Gordon Lennox likes to be hands-on in the garden, as her Twitter feed demonstrates. She recently posted a photo of herself perched high on a ladder, hosing down the greenhouse. She laughs as she explains: “It’s because of health and safety.

No one else is allowed to get to the top of a ladder without scaffolding the whole building, otherwise they might fall off – so it had to be me!”

Cut flowers decorate the café, holiday cottages and the castle, which the Gordon Lennoxes let out on an exclusive-use basis for fishing holidays, weddings and corporate events. “From July to September the castle is full of guests every week,” Zara says, “and we put flowers in every room.” They also sell bouquets to visitors, and are members of the Flowers from the Farm cooperative, which promotes locally grown flowers to florists in the area.

The restoration of the walled garden is important to the local area in many ways, not least because it

Choose varieties to suit local conditions. In cold exposed areas, forget sweetcorn or climbing French beans and try peas, potatoes and brassicas.

Use local heirloom seeds, not only to preserve historic varieties, but also because you’ll get better results.

Many trees can take low temperatures but don’t like waterlogged soil. Adding grit and organic matter will aid drainage, and with heavy clay soil consider raised beds.

The top five hardy vegetables this far north are: cabbage ‘Red Drumhead’, purple broccoli ‘Rudolph’, carrot ‘Red Samurai’, beetroot ‘Burpees Golden’ and broad bean ‘Crimson Flowered’.

Top The striking, bulbous

forms of globe artichoke Cynara cardunculus are set against a wave of soft mauve lavender.

Above The Victorian glasshouse by Mackenzie & Moncur has been painstakingly restored.

has created 40 new jobs. As it brings in ever more visitors, keen to listen to the bees in the lavender, take away a bunch of sweet peas and see kitchen gardening at its best, its influence is sure to grow. ■ Gordon Castle Walled Garden, Fochabers, Morayshire IV32 7PQ. Tel +44 (0)1343 612312; gordoncastle.co.uk AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 43

Decking and brimming borders make the most of this sloping plot, with wonderful views over the Bath countryside.

44 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Full IMMERSION Bannerdown in Somerset is enclosed by the steep slopes of its revitalised garden, with deep, heavily planted beds overflowing with masses of perennials to envelop those who tread its paths WORDS VERONICA PEERLESS PHOTOGRAPHS ANNAĂ?CK GUITTENY

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 45

B

ath nestles within seven hills, so it’s rare to find a garden in the city that isn’t on a slope, and Kathryn Eardley and Tim Davies’ garden on the edge of the city is no exception. It sits on top of a hill in the village of Batheaston, with spectacular views of the river Avon and Solsbury Hill, and is actually quite vertiginous in places. But thanks to its cunning design, you can’t really tell.

The couple’s ‘upside down’ home was built in 2015 on the site of a former bungalow. Initially they

46 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above Alchemilla mollis and catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’) soften the edge of a limestone gravel path.

Top right Kathryn Eardley and Tim Davies in their Somerset garden.

had planned an extension, but ended up opting for a total rebuild. To one side of the house there had previously been a sloping lawn, a huge retaining wall and a big drop. At the back, decking and raised beds concealed the slope beneath.

After the building work, there was a very large hole to the side, and a compacted mudbath at the back. “It was a disaster area: holes were filling up with water whenever it rained,” recalls Tim. All of which was a challenge for garden designer Tom Eaglestone when he arrived in 2016. Tim and Kathy thought the back garden should contain curves to contrast with the house, but given that some of the previous garden had been left intact – including the decking, a large raised rose bed and several smaller ones – Tom decided to expand on the existing layout.

Having first dealt with the waterlogged areas by adding French drains, he put in another large bed lined with Everedge steel. Its dimensions match the existing raised bed, which he clad in softwood timber to match the decking.

This simple solution works brilliantly.

From the balcony above, the two large borders complement each other and practically merge together in high summer, creating a sea of colour.

From below, the layout reflects the two-storey structure of the house and has an immersive feel, especially since Tom enlarged the sandstone terrace to make it more generous, adding a new seating area that juts into the planting. “I wanted Tim and Kathy to feel they were surrounded by plants,” says Tom. Tim and Kathy were both happy to work in the garden, with a bit of help if necessary. This suited

Tom perfectly: “I like to plant as heavily as I can; I love big perennial borders.”

His planting plan made use of many plants that were already in the garden, including the roses in the original raised bed, plus many plants that had been brought over from Tim and Kathy’s former cottage garden in a nearby village. “I started taking cuttings over a year before we moved,” says Kathy. “When we decided on a rebuild, they all ended up living in buckets for far longer than I had planned.”

The borders are now a riot of spring bulbs, perennials, roses and grasses. Tom added many of his own favourite plants, including nepetas, Monarda ‘Squaw’, Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, Persicaria amplexicaulis, Geranium psilostemon, Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’, Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘George Davison’, Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’, Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ and Euphorbia x martini – “it fades from yellow to a beautiful salmon pink,” he remarks. Ornamental grasses, including Stipa gigantea, Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, Miscanthus sinensis and Hakonechloa macra come into their own in late summer, and rustle gently in the wind.

At the height of summer, the new limestone gravel path between the two borders is barely distinguishable.

This is a deliberate ploy by Tom, who planted Alchemilla mollis into it for a naturalistic look. The colour palette is mostly blues, purples and pinks, with pops of yellow. The couple vetoed orange, but an existing peachy rose, ‘Lady of Shalott’ was spared: “We wouldn’t have chosen it, but it’s beautiful,” says Tim. Kathy wouldn’t have chosen the rudbeckia either: “But it’s spectacular. It just goes on forever.”

Below Maroon Cirsium

rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’ teams well with catmint to create a soft-toned, romantic look.

Plants that ENCHANT Planted in profusion, the abundant blooms on these striking beauties are truly captivating

LEUCANTHEMUM VULGARE

GLADIOLUS BYZANTINUS

Ox-eye daisies are a highlight in the meadow with their gleaming white flowers.

This gladiolus bears bright magenta flowers, and is hardy in free-draining soil.

ROSA ‘THE ALNWICK ROSE’

SALVIA NEMOROSA ‘CARADONNA’

Cupped, fragrant blooms in soft pink on this reliable rose bred by David Austin.

Ever-popular for its vivid flower spikes in deep purple and its upstanding habit.

ROSA ‘SEAGULL’

CIRSIUM RIVULARE ‘ATROPURPUREUM’

A vigorous rambler with masses of small white flowers each with a pronounced boss of golden stamens.

Tufty thistle flowers on tall stems make this an excellent candidate for deep borders.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 47

The roses taken as cuttings from the couple’s previous garden are flourishing and include Kathy’s beloved ‘Seagull’, for which Tom built new supports.

“If you take cuttings from climbing roses, they just seem to grow,” notes Kathy. Her mother’s peony and a Maltese cross (Lychnis chalcedonica) grown from seed brought back from Monet’s garden at Giverny

by Tim’s mother, and which has already moved house twice, are also doing well. “It’s lovely to keep bits of other gardens with you,” says Tim. The steep slope at the side of the house was more of a challenge. Initially Kathy had envisioned a series of terraces, but when a costly estimate for just one retaining wall came in, the couple had to reconsider their options. “Tom had the brainwave of a wildflower meadow, which would never have occurred to us,” says Tim. Before it was installed, the site was levelled to an ‘angle of rest’ to ensure that the earth stayed put. A perennial wildflower meadow containing a mixture of 38 native species, including cowslips, red campion, betony and ox-eye daisies from Wildflower Turf was then installed.

“Now that we’ve worked out how to look after it, it’s a total joy,” says Tim. “If we don’t cut it too late or too low, it retains its greenness even in winter. We just do one big cut in July, and take everything off so that it doesn’t enrich the soil. I use an angled hedge trimmer, like a scythe. Then I use my old mower on the highest setting to hoover it up and a wide rake to pick up the rest.” As with most meadows, the plants 48 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above The flowers of Euphorbia x martini change to shades of salmon later in summer.

Right Always reliable, Geranium psilostemon.

Below Ox-eye daisies and meadow flowers disguise the sloping plot.

have been a bit hit and miss: “The wild carrot grew too high, so I took it out, and I’ve dug out lots of plantain. And I just can’t get the yellow rattle [which parasitises unwanted grasses and restricts their growth] to grow,” explains Kathy. In high summer, ox-eye daisies and white campion are at their peak and the whole area buzzes with wildlife.

The meadow is dotted with trees, including three crab apples (Malus ‘Evereste’), three multi-stemmed Amelanchier lamarckii, and a paper birch, Betula papyrifera, all of which are staked, since wind can be an issue here. The couple also added a tree they had heard about on Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time: the snowdrop tree, Halesia carolina. “The pure white flowers held their colour and stayed on the tree for at least a month in spring, even during Storm Hannah,” Tim recalls.

The base of the slope is the only area of the southwest-facing garden that sits in shade and it is planted with dog’s tooth violets, hellebores, ferns and brunnera, plus a Cotoneaster cornubia to screen the house below. A native hedge of hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), crab apple (Malus sylvestris) and hazel (Corylus avellana) edges the meadow and continues down to the bottom of the garden, giving privacy and concealing the existing fence. Glimpses of the fence reveal just how steep the garden actually is.

Tim and Kathy constantly tweak the garden.

They’re not afraid to dig up plants or move them

if they’re not happy with their performance or position. The sanguisorbas got flattened by rain and wind, so are going to be replaced, probably by hardy geraniums. ‘Lady of Shalott’ has been moved four times and the peony is scheduled for a move in November. Meanwhile the greenhouse and coldframe are bursting with annuals, which will be used to fill any gaps. One thing’s for certain: this garden will keep on evolving. ■

Above Geraniums and

catmint front a border backed by miscanthus and Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’.

The lay of THE LAND Tricks to help you get the best out of a sloping site Terracing with retaining walls can be a rather expensive option. Instead, consider using sloping planted banks of shrubs, perennials and groundcover plants.

A lawn that’s set over a slope can be very difficult to mow. Consider turning it into a wildlife meadow as an alternative – it will change through the seasons, attract wildlife and be very low maintenance. It’s also an economical choice.

Think about drainage. French drains are a simple solution: 50cm-deep, membrane-lined trenches filled with 20cm of aggregate.

Aim for an ‘angle of rest’ – the angle at which the soil on a slope won’t slip downwards, and use trees and planting to anchor the slope further.

For a garden that slopes from side to side, work with the existing contours to create winding paths and curved borders.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 49

PASSION & Precision

Rob and Diane Cole eat, sleep and live gardening, and their attention to detail and deep love of planting illuminate Meadow Farm Garden in Worcestershire WORDS TAMSIN WESTHORPE PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS 50 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 2020

Cheerful Rudbeckia hirta ‘Marmalade’ contrasts with dusky pink Hylotelephium telephium var. fabaria.

T

here aren’t many couples like Rob and Diane Cole, who can claim to be completely equal partners when it comes to decision making in the garden. They met by chance on a beach in Majorca in 1986 and realised they were a match made in horticultural heaven.

The result of their relationship has been the creation of one of the most immaculate gardens you’ll ever have the pleasure to visit: Meadow Farm Garden in Worcestershire.

The Coles’ one-acre garden, which is part of a larger three-acre site, is not the result of a series of happy accidents; it has been meticulously planned to the point where even the lawns are designed as parallel curves at a width that lets Rob create the perfect stripes with his mower. Rob, a retired architect and landscape architect, planned the sloping westfacing garden using a CAD software package, but he is quick to point out that it was Diane who was responsible for laying the paving.

From the moment you turn into the drive you know you’ve entered a plantsman’s 52 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above The dimensions of

these sweeping borders are based on those at Cheshire’s Arley Hall.

Below Perfect partners: Meadow Farm Garden’s Rob and Diane Cole.

paradise. To the left is the couple’s nursery and meadow, and to the right is their garden. “We bought the property in 1998, having moved from a small garden in Birmingham, and by 1999 we were ready to open as a nursery and garden specialising in hardy perennials,” explains Rob. “Our dream had always been to find somewhere to create a garden and start a nursery, since we’d grown out of our small town garden and filled five allotments with plants!”

The one-and-a-quarter acre meadow that lies beyond the nursery is something of which both Diane and Rob are justifiably proud. “It is managed as a nature reserve and in August we can expect to see a wonderful array of butterflies. Skipper, common blue, brimstone and rare brown hairstreak butterflies are all regular visitors,” Rob notes. “By early September, if the weather’s been dry, the meadow is cut,” adds Diane.

The activity in the nursery has been reduced in recent years and the Coles now attend only a few plant fairs each year. “We are hoping to have more time for the garden

and garden-themed holidays,” explains Rob. Even so, there are still rows and rows of echinacea on display at the nursery. Rob has spent many years researching and breeding these plants, and August is when they reach their peak.

With so much interest in their garden, it’s hard to choose a route to walk. Each grass path offers a tempting view of the surrounding countryside and glimpses of extraordinary plant combinations.

Although this is a windy site, thanks to Diane’s work earlier in the summer the plants are rarely propped up by plant supports in August. “I support plants only as and when they need it. I find that doing a Chelsea chop and then pinching out results in plants being more compact,” she explains.

“Having read The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy DiSabato-Aust, I’ve become a fan of cutting back perennials such as phlox, eupatorium and leucanthemum to keep them compact.”

The August garden is vibrant and awash with texture, colour and perfume. The Latin name of each and every plant is quickly reeled off by Rob and Diane. “Ever since we started planting this garden, which was just a field before we arrived, we’ve kept

Clockwise from top left

Weathered stone faces; Rob’s fastidiously neat lawn stripes; the dark outline of Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Black Tower’ looms over goldenrod, lythrum, and a mound of rudbeckia; corrugated purple petals of Clematis x durandii.

a computer database of every single plant we’ve bought,” says Rob. Their database of thousands of plants records the name of the nursery from which they bought them, the price they paid, their location in the garden and the Latin name. They even keep meticulous records of plants that fail in their heavy clay soil. This is organisation as you’ve never seen it before. “A favourite plant in August is Dahlia ‘Karma Choc’ thanks to its dark foliage and velvety maroon flowers. We tend to leave our dahlias in the ground all year here,” says Diane. “Another plant that works well on the exposed slope is the AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 53

SOWING home-grown seed Rob Cole on a costfree way to garden Harvest seed from the garden when it’s fully ripe on a dry day. All the seed we collect is stored in paper envelopes and then kept in a north-facing room in the house.

The seed collected is sown between October and March and none of it is kept in a heated propagator or greenhouse. We sow it in small pots or trays covered with fine horticultural grit and leave it outside to face the elements.

When sowing so many different types of seed, this ‘one size fits all’ sowing technique is definitely the easiest solution.

We are both members of The Alpine Garden Society, The Hardy Plant Society, Plant Heritage and our local gardening club, so we have plenty of opportunities to swap seeds and seedlings with other gardeners.

54 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Top Stipa gigantea and compact Crocosmia Monarda ‘Raspberry ‘Bressingham Blaze’.”

Wine’ edge a pathway.

Although they are Middle Crocosmia organised, the couple ‘Walberton Yellow’.

Bottom An eye-popping don’t plan their plant high-summer patchwork combinations out on includes Phlox paniculata paper. Diane has a ‘Goldmine’ and cobalttalent for finding just blue agapanthus. the right spot in the border for her new perennials and shrubs. “I move things if I’m not happy with the look,” she admits.

As you head down the slope you will pass through a series of small gardens – the Silver Garden, the Summer House Garden and the Yew Courtyard. On reaching the bottom of the hill you’ll find an inviting bench. Sit here and look out towards Berrow Hill.

Your view is framed by a large metal hoop that’s set in the border and you will not be surprised to learn that this organised couple have positioned it precisely so that the oak tree in the distant field sits right in the centre of its frame.

Your journey then takes you over a small stream that Rob and Diane discovered by accident. “The stream was originally running through a pipe that we inadvertently broke while creating the garden – we thought for a moment that we’d hit a mains water pipe,” explains Rob. “We decided to remove the pipe and let the stream run free over cobbles.

It now travels through a bed that is covered with a pond liner and filled with bog plants.”

At the far right of the garden, just over the stream, are two herbaceous borders that have a central grass

Meadow Farm PLANTS Rich colours and textures on stand-out plants that heighten the late-summer display

DAHLIA ‘KARMA CHOC’

KNIPHOFIA ‘TAWNY KING’

Black stems and dark foliage with velvety flowers that look as good in the vase as in borders.

A stunner for the centre of a south-facing display, with spikes of apricot and cream.

PERSICARIA ‘ORANGE FIELD’

EUCOMIS COMOSA ‘OAKHURST’

Diane loves elegant persicarias.

They thrive in sun or part shade from July through to October.

A dark-leaved pineapple lily with pink flowers on a fleshy stem. Does well in a hot spot.

RUDBECKIA HIRTA ‘MARMALADE’ A tough but short-lived perennial that sparkles through to autumn.

The perfect partner for asters.

SANGUISORBA OBTUSA Fluffy, soft-pink flowers are held high on slim stems. Ideal for the back of the border.

Above The velvety dark path. “We measured blooms of Dahlia ‘Karma the dimensions of the Choc’ add drama amid famous borders at Arley bright echinacea and Hall in Cheshire and silvery grasses. worked out our width dimensions based on them,” Rob explains. The house itself, which dates back to 1836, is positioned at the top of the slope and the steep sloping bed that runs closest to the house is home to a lovely mixture of conifers, shrubs, a cloud-pruned box and an alpine scree area.

Meadow Farm Garden is designed to offer interest all year, but August is a month of high drama. “This month is a complete explosion and a riot of colour,” says Diane with a smile. “There’s so much going on in the garden that if one plant has gone over, your eye quickly jumps over it to the flowers beyond,” There is nothing low-maintenance about Meadow Farm and Diane regularly gardens it for 12 hours a day. “When it’s hot I get up at 5am to work in the cool,” she says. “We’ve been opening it up to groups of visitors for years now and it certainly keeps us on our toes.” As the vivid, late-summer colours of crocosmia, kniphofia, eucomis, rudbeckia, sanguisorba and dahlias fade away, Rob and Diane keep going. Late summer is when they collect seeds, and Rob sows up to 1,000 pots of it a year. Diane starts to cut back the garden as autumn approaches, shreds the dead perennial stems and adds them to the compost heap. Everything that dies in the garden is composted and is returned to these sumptuous summer beds as part of a mulch.

This garden provides a lesson in horticultural precision. More importantly it demonstrates how a shared passion has given spectacular results. ■

Meadow Farm Garden, 33 Droitwich Road, Feckenham, Worcestershire, B96 6RU. Tel: +44 (0)1527 821156; meadowfarm33.co.uk AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 55

Ranks of potted agapanthus in the Dutch Garden; the pavilion is a legacy of the early tennis courts that used to occupy this area.

56 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Growing HOT & COLD At summer’s end, the gardens at Herefordshire’s Hampton Court Castle just keep on giving, offering a melee of formal and informal with warm and cool coloured flowers and foliage WORDS JACKY HOBBS PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

N

ot to be confused with ‘the other Hampton Court’, the historic Grade I-listed Tudor manor house of Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire precedes Henry VIII’s Surrey palace by over 70 years. Hampton Court Castle was built in 1427 by Sir Rowland Lenthall; its encircling gardens, like the castle itself, changing according to fashion and finances over the centuries.

Originally the castle gardens would have been planted with ornamental, productive and medicinal plants, with the surrounding 1,000-acre wood dedicated to hunting.

In the 18th century, fashionable Italianate gardens were added by eminent designers London and Wise, only to be erased in the 19th century by a more formal English landscape design. It was during this period that the current walled garden was built and a small glasshouse attached to the castle. In 1810 Richard Arkwright bought Hampton Court Castle, and for three generations the gardens enjoyed renewed embellishment and investment. Joseph Paxton built a formidable, independent glasshouse and a fernery (now the Sunken Garden). The wisteria arch was planted in 1860 and one of England’s very first tennis courts was built in 1880, situated in the spot that is now occupied by the Dutch Garden. Its pavilion is still evident today.

Sadly, the property and gardens fell into decline during the war and underwent frequent changes of ownership.

Its fortunes were revived in the 1990s, when, under the stewardship of the American businessman Robert Van Kampen, garden designer Simon Dorrell breathed new life AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 57

Above Water cascades and courses throughout the garden, eventually emerging in the sunken former fernery.

Below Globes of Echinops bannaticus ‘Albus’ attract bees to the kitchen garden.

into the gardens, which opened to the public in 2000.

After Van Kampen’s death, The Daly family bought Hampton Court Castle in 2006, intent on preserving the character of the gardens while opening the castle itself to the visiting public.

Simon’s design unified past and present. He introduced water into the gardens, linking previously fragmented areas while adding a sense of movement and musicality. He drew water up to the top of the garden from the nearby River Lugg, pumping it into the revised Dutch Garden’s new, long, rectangular pool, which was formerly Arkwright’s tennis court.

From here, the water cascades down staircases and through canals and spills into the heart of the Walled Flower Gardens, which are broadly cut with a lavender-edged waterway. Twin handcrafted oak pergolas, built by local craftsmen, straddle the water and are accessed by a series of wooden bridges. These offer glimpses into a series of compartmentalised Elizabethan-style flowering knot gardens and parterres, with each themed enclosure incorporating different colours and styles.

The water then courses swiftly underground, beneath a huge, undulating yew hedge, which runs westwards, parallel to the walled garden, trapping billowing lavender, lemon-themed herbaceous flower borders and the surviving 19th-century wisteria arch in between. Finally, with a flurry of streams, falls and pools, the water resurfaces in the former Victorian fernery, which is now the Sunken Garden.

You can walk right behind the waterfall and enter a subterranean passage that Simon created to connect to a three-storey, stone, gothic-style viewing tower, which is the epicentre of the 21st-century maze.

More than 1,000 yews were planted to create the classic horticultural puzzle which, on scrutiny, bears Van Kampen’s initials. Scale the tower for a bird’s-eye view of the gardens and you can start to piece together this intricate garden jigsaw before attempting to fathom your way out.

In late summer, it is two contrasting garden rooms that draw the greatest attention. In the kitchen garden, the informal tangle of ripening fruit, vegetables and flowers is warm and mellow. In complete contrast are the soothing blues and greens of the clean-cut Dutch Garden, enveloped in emerald yew and bisected by a rectangular mirror of still water. It’s lined with rectangular box parterres and decorated with box quatrefoils, a design directly lifted from the castle’s ballroom ceiling. In the middle of each parterre, and underplanted with lavender ‘Little

With a flurry of streams, falls and pools, the water resurfaces in the former fernery

58 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The maze hedges, formed of 1,000 yews, spell out the initials ‘VK’, for former owner, Robert Van Kampen.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 59

Sapphire agapanthus spill from double rows of terracotta pots either side of the canal

Above Gail Bridges keeps the Dutch Garden pristine by regularly skimming algae from the rectangular pool.

Below Dahlias, sweet peas and zinnias in the packed borders of the kitchen garden.

Lady’, are alternate columnar yews, Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’, and fresh green, domed mushrooms of the Portuguese laurel, Prunus lusitanica.

Sapphire agapanthus spill from double rows of terracotta pots either side of the 26m-long central canal that gardener Gail Bridges cleans daily, removing blanket weed and pollen scum. The agapanthus, which have occupied the same pots for several years, are planted in a free-draining mixture of compost and grit. “I water the pots weekly and apply a seaweed feed every other week,” Gail explains.

The two-acre walled garden is swathed in flowers and enveloped in perfume – it’s more of a kitchencome-cutting garden, both colourful and culinary.

Organic methods are employed, and companion planting combats pests and diseases while adding charm and beauty. Many of the plants start life each year from seed grown in the glasshouse.

“Growing from seed means I can try a variety of heritage and other vegetables and ring the changes with the flowers to suit my colour schemes,” says Gail. Fruit espaliers and tall yew hedging cordon off more intimate growing spaces, while orchards and wildflower meadows grow beside cutting patches of dahlias designed to draw in pollinators and the beneficial insects that safeguard the garden’s produce. “Masses of single or semi-double-flowered dahlias attract pollinators and tend to be hardier and lower maintenance than double blooms,” advises Gail. “I particularly wanted to encourage pollinators into the garden, so each vegetable is coupled with flowering herbs or flowers.”

Defensive principals apply more fully in the more regimented portion of the productive garden, which is laid out geometrically across 28 oak-edged raised beds. Here, pest-deterring plantings and religiously applied crop rotation intensify output. Hyssop accompanies lettuces, while nitrogen-fixing clover follows nutrient-depleting root crops such as carrots and parsnips. Gail uses other organic methods of pest control including nematodes and beer traps for marauding slugs and snails. She staggers sowings of seed to create a successional supply of produce, or makes two separate sowings, one early and one late. Occasionally she leaves a few plants to bolt, distracting pests away from newer and far more succulent arrivals.

Hampton Court Castle, Hope under Dinmore, Herefordshire HR6 0PN. Tel: +44 (0)1568 797777; hamptoncourtcastle.co.uk

60 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Hampton Court’s DUAL-PURPOSE PLANTS Bright flowers fill the kitchen garden with colour, as well as luring pollinating insects

ANGELICA GIGAS

HELIANTHUS ‘SOLAR FLASH’

DAHLIA ‘KARMA FUCHSIANA’

Abundant bicolour flowers on this compact, multi-headed sunflower.

Seedlings of this dahlia spring up, with flowers tending towards being single.

LUPINUS ‘BLUE JAVELIN’

TITHONIA ROTUNDIFOLIA

This scented, delicate annual lupin flowers over a long period. Soak and sow the hard-coated seeds in spring.

Sow this half-hardy annual in mid-spring and plant out after the frosts for longstemmed flowers in vibrant orange.

HELIANTHUS ANNUUS ‘MAGIC ROUNDABOUT’

TRIFOLIUM INCARNATUM

CYNARA CARDUNCULUS

LILIUM ‘AFRICAN QUEEN’

Gail uses red clover as a green manure in vacant vegetable beds to replenish soil fertility as part of her crop rotation.

Architectural artichokes are a real focal point, with their large silvery leaves and bold, thistle-topped flower stems.

This L. longifolium hybrid has elegantly elongated trumpets with superb scent.

It’s gorgeous paired with blue eryngium.

Plum-purple, domed flowerheads on a statuesque 1.2m plant with bold leaves attract all kinds of pollinators.

Pale-yellow petals with a circular flare of crimson on this 1.8m tall sunflower.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 61

Below Using flowers

such as single dahlias, penstemon and ‘Blue Bedder’ echiums helps lure pollinators to the flowers of crops.

Bottom Hyssop pokes out between rows of slug-free lettuces.

COMPANION Planting Advice on producing organic crops, from gardener Gail Bridges Grow simple species and pollinator-pulling flowers among fruit and vegetables (above) to attract beneficial insects.

Borage, Echium vulgare ‘Blue Bedder’, Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ and Hyssop officinalis are our favourites.

Use strongly scented or pungent plants, to distract pests and create a physical barrier from edible targets.

Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, distracts low-flying carrot fly, while alliums, calendula and chives distract aphids from lettuce and broccoli.

Include dual-purpose, insect-friendly flowers for cutting, such as globe artichoke, Cynara cardunculus, Echinops bannaticus ‘Albus’, eryngium, dahlia, helianthus and phlox.

Plant pest-specific plant deterrents. Key combinations include: slug-repelling hyssop with lettuces (left); summer savory, Satureja hortensis, with broad beans to deter black bean aphids; hoverfly-

62 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

attracting pot marigolds (Calendula officinalis), with kale to prevent outbreaks of aphids; and nasturtiums with tomatoes and cucumbers to deter whitefly.

Plant sacrificial plants around sacred plants.

For example, basil distracts whitefly from tomatoes, radishes encourage root fly away from cabbage, and you could also allow a few lettuces to bolt to distract pests from succeeding crops. ■

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Gardens for People

DESIGN DUOS

Ruth Chivers explores the work of John Brookes, a household name in British garden design, and the American landscape designer who inspired him, Thomas Church

IMAGE GAP/ANDREA JONES

T

At John Brookes’ garden, Denmans, there are no straight lines, axes or abrupt edges to borders.

here is always so much to do in the garden and when there’s a long list of tasks to get through, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, namely: what are gardens for? Renowned landscape designers Thomas Church, who lived and worked in America, and John Brookes, who became a household name in Britain thanks to his best-selling books on garden design, both believed that gardens are for people – to enjoy. Gardens are outdoor living rooms, places to relax or to have fun entertaining friends, not just ornamental spaces requiring constant hard work.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 65

W

Top Geometry and asymmetry come to the fore in a zigzag water feature in a garden designed by Brookes.

Above John Brookes, in his garden at Denmans.

hat has an American who never worked in Britain got to do with the way we garden today? Seeing gardens as outdoor living rooms is an idea that has come to the UK from the USA, with specific influence coming via Californian garden design, as practised by American landscape architect Thomas Church. He was one of the first to answer the question ‘what are gardens for?’ and design them in a way that suited modern architecture and the realities of 20th-century living. John Brookes always acknowledged Church as a major influence. Two key ideas made both men influential in their time and relevant today. The first of these was that the people who use a garden affect its design; the second was the modernist principle that form follows function.

Church lived and practised in California, having studied landscape architecture at Berkeley. After

66 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

further study at Harvard, he spent six months travelling in Italy and Spain and based his thesis on this seminal experience, outlining the parallels between the climates, landscape and vegetation of the Mediterranean and California.

Today, it’s widely known that the term ‘Mediterranean climate’ includes the Mediterranean, California, parts of Chile, southern Africa and western Australia. But in the late 1920s, Church’s thesis was a revelation to Californian gardeners.

Alongside his text were pictures of villas and gardens in Tuscany and Frascati, together with photos of houses and gardens in Santa Barbara. These were the homes and small gardens of ordinary people, liveable and practical because of the scale and imagination shown in their design.

Church focused on private gardens rather than large-scale public spaces. He drew two major elements from his travels and translated them into his work. These were to design gardens as outdoor living spaces and to use drought resistant-plants appropriate for the Californian climate. Planted areas were kept small and simple, since they needed irrigation to keep them lush. He made a second European trip in 1937 to study the work of Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto and modernist artists Arp and Miró. Afterwards, he adopted a modernist approach in his designs, experimenting with new shapes and forms and mixing sweeping curves with straight lines and zigzags. As he wrote in House Beautiful in 1948: “Architectural pattern is the bone structure of the garden. If a garden has a bold and basic pattern, it will have a beauty that neither snow nor sleet nor gloom of winter can ravage.”

El Novillero, the Donnell Garden in Sonoma, is his most influential work, specifically its swimming pool area. One of the most famous swimming pools in the world, photographs of it featured in many magazines and books. Unusually, the swimming pool was built before the house due to post-war material shortages – as a fire-fighting resource, the pool was permitted to go ahead. This 1947 project bore all of Church’s hallmarks: he said its shape reflected patterns in nature, such as the looping course of the meandering river in the valley below. Others see the influence of artists such as Arp, Miró and Kandinsky. Church specified a new, fast-setting form of concrete that made its innovative shape technically possible.

A breakthrough from rectangular pools, it was decorative yet functional. To one side, a zigzag line marks the change from concrete to redwood decking, which enabled Church to retain existing trees – something he was always keen to do. The parapet around the deck includes a built-in seat, which is another Church signature.

Church’s 1955 book Gardens are for People featured other case studies that demonstrated his approach, written in a witty, accessible style.

IMAGES ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN ARCHIVES, UC BERKELEY; GARDEN EXPOSURES/ANDREA JONES; JOHN BROOKES; PETER GILLESPIE

DESIGN DUOS

Right A Church design

for a Californian beach garden, with sweeping curves, straight lines and statement zigzags.

Below Garden designer Thomas Church.

Bottom Built-in seating and small areas of planting at El Novillero.

For Church, gardens were for people to enjoy as a backdrop to everyday life, rather than spaces requiring lots of maintenance – just as his clients wanted.

Brookes said reading Gardens are for People was a revelation. Seeing abstracted forms and shapes in modern gardens that made outdoor living easy was an inspiration. Like Church, he trained as a landscape designer but preferred to focus on private gardens. He

was especially struck by the way Church’s designs were not based on axes. With no beginning or end, they flowed, with good views from several vantage points. Church used geometry and asymmetry to make gardens appear larger, his informal designs underpinned by a strong discipline; soon Brookes developed his own method, called ‘The Grid’, to ensure correct proportion and scale in his layouts.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 67

DESIGN DUOS

DESIGN YOUR OWN outdoor living room Follow the lead of Thomas Church and John Brookes to create a fully functioning garden

Limit paving and hard landscaping materials Brookes limited how many materials he used – a concrete or stone slab, a brick, and gravel – with colours that harmonised with the house or landscape, like at the Chicago Botanic Garden (above). Church also limited his choice, using commonplace materials finished in extraordinary ways. Enhance cheap slabs with an edging of more expensive bricks, or use bricks to make a grid into which modules of slabs are laid.

Don’t be afraid to prune Church declared that “pruning shears wisely used are the gardener’s best friend”. He took a pair of secateurs when he visited clients and they would often find him pruning their shrubs and clipping ivy into diamond shapes.

Maximise space Church believed that the smaller houses were built, the more important the garden became – it’s still often the largest ‘room’.

Make a list of the activities you’ll do in your garden and use it to make a plan for its different areas.

68 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Get the basic dimensions right Terraces, like this one at Denmans, should be large enough to fit a table with the chairs pulled back. A guideline allowance is 3-3.5m2 for a table and six chairs, but adapt this scale using your own garden furniture.

Existing paving can be extended simply and cheaply by adding a band of well–laid gravel that matches the paving.

Use steps to create an expansive look Brookes and Church each excelled in step design. In small gardens with a simple change in levels, making one or two steps the whole width of the garden will create an expansive look, while putting planted containers at the sides creates a great display.

IMAGES ALAMY; GARDEN EXPOSURES/ANDREA JONES; GAP/ANDREA JONES; JOHN BROOKES

In 1969’s Room Outside, Brookes promoted his new approach, which was influenced by Church.

The book’s cover showed a stylish outdoor room with dining table and cushioned seating. “A garden is a place for use by people… not a static picture created by plants,” he wrote. “Plants provide the props, the colour and texture, but the garden is the stage and its design should be determined by the uses it is intended to fulfil.” His writing was accessible and he published many books. Thanks to his television appearances and teaching, he did more than most to demystify modern garden design in the UK and abroad. He took up Church’s baton and showed it was possible to make gardens that complemented post-war houses and were forwardlooking, welcoming, planted spaces.

Both Church and Brookes had gardens that sat alongside contrasting architecture. Church remodelled the garden of his Victorian San Francisco townhouse several times and Gardens are for People showed its final incarnation. Behind a tall fence, a simple curving path through green planting led up a divided stairway to the front door, influenced by designs he’d seen at Fontainebleau, but with a contemporary twist. At Denmans, the house and four-acre garden in Sussex that Brookes moved to in 1980, trees and plants divide the space; there are no straight lines, no axes and no edges to borders. It’s a place of curving lawns with some unmown longer grass and planting that merges with gravel paths.

There are plenty of places to relax and enjoy the garden, with seats tucked into sheltered spots.

Brookes was asked to design English gardens all over the world. His initial response was always to enquire precisely what clients meant by ‘English’ – he didn’t want to produce designs that wouldn’t suit the climate and location. At Chicago Botanic Garden’s English Walled Garden, Brookes said he

Above The swimming

pool at El Novillero; the supine sculpture by Adaline Kent echoes the pool’s curving shape and is functional too – it’s a great place to sunbathe.

Below Brookes used a grid to ensure correct scale and proportion from the house.

wanted his design to represent an English country garden from the past, with “a feeling of it all not being too immaculate.”

Planting had to reflect the local climate, but the results look traditionally English, with solid modern American foundations. It is one of the most popular parts of the garden and British visitors will feel at home with the formal vistas, water trickling into an aged lead cistern, the pergola and cottage garden.

As well as being influenced by Church, Brookes also worked with renowned English landscape architect Brenda Colvin. She had studied with Gertrude Jekyll and imparted her belief in the importance of plant form and texture to Brookes.

His planting style was simple: he would create a backbone of trees and shrubs and infill them with smaller shrubs and soft perennials. Rather than planting single plants, he advocated using fewer varieties in greater numbers. Planting was stylish yet functional – low-growing groundcover plants reduced maintenance – and was always based on the garden’s location to ensure its suitability: important when working abroad. Above all, Brookes’ gardens always had places for owners to sit and entertain, spaces for children to play and for all to relax. ■ Visit John Brookes’ garden at Denmans Garden, Denmans Lane, Fontwell, West Sussex BN18 0SU. Tel: +44 (0)1243 278950; denmans.org

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 69

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SCULPTURE Tony Lattimer’s glazed stoneware emerges from exuberant planting before Painswick’s eye-catching exedra.

Companion Pieces Art Unbound, an exhibition held last summer at Painswick Rococo Garden in the Cotswolds showed how sculpture can complement a garden, and offered plenty of tips for those seeking works for their own gardens PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 71

SCULPTURE

L

ike the accessories that add the finishing touches to a room in the house, a piece of sculpture for the garden is the perfect way to enhance an outdoor space. Prices vary considerably, depending on whether the piece is bespoke or bought off the peg, but a beautiful garden highlight is within the reach of every gardener.

“When you choose sculpture, there is normally one of two scenarios,” says Polly Bielecka, gallery director at Pangolin London Sculpture Gallery. “You either fall in love with a sculpture and find a way to make it work, or you have a spot in the garden and then go out and look for something to suit it. How you choose the sculpture would change depending

72 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above Aly Brown’s

Purbeck blue stone Maia sits by the Eagle House.

Top right Rebecca Newnham’s handpainted glass Rise sculptures are inspired by waves of energy and sound.

on which scenario you have, but my first and foremost advice is that you have to love it. The pleasure of sculpture is surely the fact that you’re looking at it every day, in different light, different weather conditions, and if you do not ultimately love it, you are missing out. It shouldn’t simply be seen as a decorative object or an ornament.”

One of the best ways to find a piece of sculpture you love is to view it in a gallery, or even better, in a garden setting. Happily, some of England’s finest gardens regularly host sculpture exhibitions, and last summer the theatrical setting of Painswick Rococo Garden in the Cotswolds was transformed into a contemporary sculpture park. Art Unbound, a specially curated exhibition of outdoor sculpture would be an impressive event anywhere, but at Painswick the interplay between modern art and the 18th-century setting was something truly special.

A Rococo garden is a wonderful thing, created to entertain rather than to impress (although always that too), and full of surprises, twists and turns, with irregular winding paths that lead to follies and decorative features. Painswick’s Rococo Garden is our only complete surviving example of the genre.

Created in the 1700s by local landowner Benjamin Hyett, and set in a hidden valley, it is insanely lovely.

It boasts a gardener’s bothy, a pigeon house and a dipping pool, as well as many other follies, an exedra, orchard, vineyard and beautiful planting.

And last summer, it was filled with beautiful sculpture too: works of art, made from stone, wood, glass and ceramic. There is always plenty of intrigue in a Rococo garden but with Art Unbound, the intrigue dial was turned up to its highest setting.

And yet, the sculpture also looked as if it should be there, largely thanks to its curator, Anna Greenacre, who chose or commissioned each of the 150 sculptures so that every one elevated, complemented or played off the Rococo Garden’s own singularity. Good sculpture, when it’s well placed, adds so much to a garden.

Top Sophie Dickens’ troupe of capuchin monkeys descends from the garden’s stone wall.

Above right Michael Chaikin’s dynamic, moving windflowers.

Above left One of Peter Beard’s colourful, ceramic, oval forms, its plinth emerging from a sea of lavender.

There was the troupe of seven capuchin monkeys by sculptor Sophie Dickens, which cascade, as if in a hurry, over one of the garden’s walls. Monkeys were often used as decorative motifs – known as ‘singerie’ – in Rococo gardens, and you could practically hear these ones claiming their territory. Quite different but equally well placed was a convex mirror with a gilded cane spindle frame by Alex Jones, which hung in the garden’s Red House, elevating what is already one of the most romantic wedding spots in England into an Arnolfini tribute.

Then there were two monumental sculptures by Alison Crowther, an artist who works exclusively with sustainable English oak, her pieces informed by the grains and patterns she finds in the wood. Her artworks looked as if they might, if we were living in a Lewis Carroll parallel universe, have fallen from the tree from which they were made.

There were a number of kinetic sculptures, such as Michael Chaikin’s windflowers in the orchard, upcycled artworks created from found objects (Sophie Marsham’s precious looking circular pieces made from car-boot-sale finds), as well as more traditional carved stone sculptures, both abstract and figurative. There were pieces you had to look for and there were others that couldn’t be avoided. A giant wooden spider, for example, took over the Pigeon House.

“The joy of having follies to work with!” exclaims Anna Greenacre of working in this Rococo garden, with its multitude of playful spaces and fantastic buildings. “Sculpture is such a natural partner to any garden or landscape,” she elaborates, “so to work in this garden, with its long vistas, varied planting, wild areas, and eclectic follies was really quite amazing.”

Anna has her own rules when it comes to curating sculpture outside. For instance, in an exhibition such as Art Unbound, artists had to provide at least three pieces of their work, otherwise the show would become too much of a hotchpotch. But she has no rules when it comes to the art itself or how it might work in its setting. “I started by making a long list of artists whose work I admired,” she explains of her selection process. “That list was narrowed to a medium-sized list, and then whittled down to 18.

Each artist had to respond to the site, of course,” she says, “and they all did. Some made work specifically for the garden, while others had pieces they knew would work. Some pieces were obvious matches – others came as a surprise.”

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 73

SCULPTURE

Top In the long grass, Luke Dickinson’s Sharp Dart of Longing Love.

Above Echoing the Red House behind it, Perfume Bottle by Joe and Jenny Smith.

The artists who took part in Art Unbound were all British, although some of them work and live abroad.

There was a local artist, Kim Francis, whose stone pieces invited you to reach out and touch them, but there were also pieces that made their way from as far away as Cornwall and Scotland.

The materials on display were equally varied: wood, stone and slate, metals and glass all featured.

When it comes to choosing material for sculpture in your own garden, “it is worth investing a little bit more to get the quality,” says Polly Bielecka.

“There are a lot of sculptures out there that are made of bronze resin, which won’t last as long, year on year. For investment potential, it is worth spending a little more to support a younger artist who is working with better quality materials.”

Sculpture shouldn’t be thought of as something that’s out of bounds for domestic gardens: either too big and monumental, and thus the domain of

74 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

the estate or grand space, or too dinky and twee.

“I know,” Anna agrees, “that for a lot of people garden sculpture means either monstrous gnomes or something scary and conceptual. We wanted to bridge that gap with Art Unbound and show that sculpture needn’t be frightening. It can be as simple as something that sits on a table. Even something small will add another dimension to your environment. I have a piece that sits on my kitchen table and the first thing people do when they come in is stroke the sculpture. It’s like a magnet.”

There are countless styles, from sleek and contemporary to abstract modern art, classical statuary or informal rustic pieces. Sculpture that mimics nature often sits well in gardens. Consider Ruth Moilliet’s giant metal allium flowerheads or Tom Hare’s towering willow sculptures of seeds at Kew Gardens. Animals rarely look out of place in a garden, either, think of a classical stone stag on a plinth or a charming gaggle of geese crossing a lawn in a more informal setting. Abstract sculptures work well, contrasting with the plants around them, often because emphasis is placed on material rather than form. Human sculptures such as figures, busts and

heads can also be used to create interesting scenes, but these can divide opinion. Some gardeners find them eerie, or are startled by them – easily done when they’re glimpsed out of the corner of the eye.

Wide, open spaces are the most difficult places to site a sculpture, according to Polly. “Open horizons dwarf anything other than monumental sculptures,” she explains. “Figurative sculpture works in intimate spaces and bold abstract pieces work better in bigger spaces because they can hold the space.” In a garden with a strong architectural design or bold planting scheme, choose something that will complement it in form, colour and texture.

The obvious way to use a piece of sculpture is to create a focal point. Positioned at the end of an allée or vista, it will pull the eye along and focus the attention. Think about views from the house – a focal point that is in line with a view from a window will create a pleasing scene that can be enjoyed from indoors all year round. “Sculpture is wonderful at leading the eye to a part of the garden you want to emphasise. It can lift a dull area or complement a busy one,” Polly explains.

Simply positioning the piece on a plain expanse of lawn will guarantee undivided attention, but certain sculptures can be enhanced with some considered

Above Three of Clare Trenchard’s Running Hareman pieces in a woodland area that’s carpeted with wild garlic.

planting. This can be formal – a square or circular bed, perhaps edged by box with the sculpture in the centre – or informal, by positioning it in a border so it rises on its plinth from a sea of flowers.

Visit rococogarden.org.uk and pangolinlondon.com for details of forthcoming exhibitions.

Sculpture IN YOUR GARDEN Anna Greenacre shares advice on choosing, placing and installing a new sculpture Get to know work, discover artists and visit sculpture parks and gardens: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The New Art Centre at Roche Court in Wiltshire, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, and The Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden in Surrey are all fantastic places to visit that showcase the work of many different artists. The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Museum in St Ives and The Henry Moore Studios and Gardens in Herefordshire are home to the work of those two famous and remarkable artists, while the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds puts on a varied programme

of exhibitions and events throughout the year.

Temporary exhibitions, like Art Unbound, are held up and down the country and The Royal British Society of Sculptors is a mine of information. Use it as a resource to find exhibitions as well as artists and their workshops. Many hold open days at their studios.

When buying a piece, think about why you want a sculpture. Is it to add beauty to your garden or to formalise it? Or do you want to make a joke and add humour? Perhaps you want to create a calm environment and add something more Zen. Think about what you

want to achieve so that you can narrow down what you are looking for. Ultimately though, you should buy the sculpture you love, not the one you think is ‘right’.

Don’t be afraid of scale.

As with planting, having a small garden doesn’t mean you have to stick to a small piece of art. A larger piece, if well placed, can add a whole new dimension to your garden. Use a chair or get someone to stand in the place where you think you want your sculpture so you get a sense of what size works. I regularly get family members to stand on chairs or even curl up in a ball to help me get my

eye in! Likewise, be open to different materials, and think about light and how it might fall on the sculpture.

When it comes to installing a piece in your garden, there are no hard and fast rules, except to make sure it is secure. You can always change your planting if your existing scheme doesn’t sit quite right with your sculpture. Pieces can look great placed in flowerbeds too – they don’t have to be set at the end of a vista. One of my favourite tricks is to bury a sculpture’s plinth, so that the sculpture itself looks as if it is emerging from its setting rather than having been set down in it.

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DIRECTORY A PLACE IN THE GARDEN

Lead figurative sculptures and decorative objects including zinc balls.

Tel: +44 (0)1403 864866; aplaceinthegarden.co.uk ALEX JONES

Contemporary sculptures made using traditional wood-working techniques. alexjones.co.uk ALISON CROWTHER

Large pieces and benches in oak. alisoncrowther.com ALY BROWN

the human form, creating an ethereal effect in the garden.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7232 1023; davidbegbie.com

to pieces that are perfectly proportioned for gardens.

Tel: +44 (0)7989 320335; gilesrayner.com

DAVID HARBER

HAMISH MACKIE

Resin or bronze sculptures inspired by forms such as seedpods and leaves.

Tel: +44 (0)1799 550368; annecurry-sculpture.co.uk

Elegant outdoor pieces such as Mantle, a latticework sphere of bronze petals, and tree-inspired organic shapes in bronze. Tel: +44 (0)1235 859300; davidharber.co.uk

ANTHONY TURNER

DOMINIC WELCH

A well-known wildlife sculptor who casts elegant and lifelike pieces in bronze to beautifully depict the subject’s instinct, strength and grace. Swifts, deer and hares are among his recent works. Tel: +44 (0)7971 028098; hamishmackie.com

Flowing works in stone, many inspired by the female form.

Tel: +44 (0)7831 471543; alybrown.co.uk ANNE CURRY

Abstract and nature-inspired stone forms. Tel: +44 (0)1647 252285; anthonyturner.net CLARE TRENCHARD

Large-scale pieces capturing the strength and movement of animals. Tel: +44 (0)7876 242979; claretrenchard.com DAVID BEGBIE

Almost transparent, steel-mesh art, based on

Statement sculptures made from stone and bronze with ceramic glazes. dominicwelch.co.uk GILES RAYNER

Internationally renowned water sculptures, mainly in metal, ranging from monumental public space works of art, such as The Arches of Oman in Muscat,

KIM FRANCIS

Tactile, sinuous pieces inspired by the natural world and set in stone, which invite touch. Tel: +44 (0)7932 666590; kimfrancis.com LCB SCULPTURE

Metal sculptures by Louise Bradfield, often created from recycled horseshoes.

Tel: +44 (0)7881 103758; lcbsculpture.com LUKE DICKINSON

Smooth and sleek abstract sculptures in Portland stone, ceramic glazes and marble. lukedickinson.co.uk MICHAEL CHAIKIN

A specialist in kinetic sculptures: beautiful at rest and spectacular when they move. Tel: +44 (0)7747 773355; metalchicken.co.uk

76 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

PETER BEARD

Simple shapes artfully glazed with layers of ceramics.

Tel: +44 (0)1926 428481; peterbeard.co.uk ROBERT JAMES WORKSHOP

Literary creations in bronze, including characters from Lewis Carroll’s books and Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit.

Tel: +44 (0)7515 126119; robertjamesworkshop.com RUPERT TILL

Complex wire sculptures modelled on animals, which capture the vitality of the natural world. Tel: +44 (0)7921 771284; ruperttill.com SOPHIE DICKENS

Life-like bronze sculptures of natural forms (above) that often have a kinetic feel. sophiedickens.co.uk SOPHIE MARSHAM

A London-based sculptor who often works with found objects to create unique oneoff pieces. Tel: +44 (0)7884 497108; sophiemarsham.com TRISTAN COCKERILL

An artist who works with reclaimed driftwood to create outdoor ornaments, and slate to make globeshaped water sculptures.

Tel: +44 (0)7917 320572; tristancockerill.com ■

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PLANT FOCUS

The Big Bang With their exploding globes of white or every shade of blue, agapanthus make a fabulous garden spectacle. Lady Christine Skelmersdale of Broadleigh Bulbs explains which to choose

WORDS JACKY HOBBS

PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

The gorgeously rich colour of ‘Indigo Dreams’, a deciduous agapanthus with small umbels and lax stems.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 79

PLANT FOCUS

B

old and architectural, agapanthus bring colour, excitement and a touch of the exotic in highsummer. Brilliant blue and occasionally white, their flowerheads erupt above lush, strap-like foliage, bursting from papery sheaths to create starbursts of multi-floreted blooms that flourish for six weeks or more. Select early-, mid- and late-flowering varieties from an abundance of cultivars, and you can enjoy a summer-long show.

Use agapanthus to bring bolts of saturated colour to traditional herbaceous borders, or they can be threaded through grasses for a more contemporary feel. They thrive in containers too, brightening terraces and balconies. Their sturdy-stemmed, longlasting flowers are excellent for cutting and their trumpet-like florets attract bees and other pollinators to the garden.

The colour palette spans the entire spectrum of blues, from deepest purple and indigo to sapphire and the palest of pastels. There is also a handful of elegant, white agapanthus, like the classic ‘Headbourne White’ and pinktinged ‘Glacier Stream’, plus a few subtle bi-colours such as ‘Silver Moon’ and new ‘Twister’, which give a striped or two-tone effect.

Height varies, from the diminutive 10cm ‘Baby Blue’, which works well in a rock garden or shallow pan, to statuesque plants such as the Septemberflowering ‘Loch Hope’, which reaches 1.5m tall. The majority though are midheight, between 90cm and 1.2m high, perfect for billowing borders and pots alike. The shape of the flowers varies too – most form rounded spheres but cultivars of Agapanthus inapertus have dramatic, drooping blooms. Individual florets can number anything from 20-100; the more a flowerhead has, the longer it will last because the florets flower sequentially.

However, the most crucial variable is hardiness.

Agapanthus are native to South Africa and won’t tolerate prolonged, severe, winter wet and cold.

Deciduous varieties, which die back over winter, are capable of withstanding outdoor temperatures down to -15°C, but evergreen varieties have to be overwintered under glass in their containers, and protected from sub-zero temperatures.

Lady Christine Skelmersdale, owner of Broadleigh Bulbs in Somerset, has been growing agapanthus for

80 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above ‘Double Diamond’

is a recent introduction, with double white flowers on compact plants, perfect for pots.

more than 40 years and has amassed one of the finest collections in the country. Their allure is manifold and Christine enjoys their variety, versatility and how easy they are to grow. “Tall, small, deciduous, evergreen, variegated and in every shade of blue – there’s one to suit every garden, from the smallest patio to the largest herbaceous border,” she enthuses.

Christine’s agapanthus collection began back in 1972 when she was given a packet of Headbourne Hybrid seeds. “It was a curious engagement present from a close friend of my future in-laws, Luly Palmer of Headbourne Worthy Manor,” she says.

Christine was teaching abroad at the time, so she

Clockwise from left

Lady Christine Skelmersdale; the indigo buds of ‘Royal Velvet’; agapanthus at Broadleigh Bulbs in Somerset; vivid blue ‘Super Star’; new bicolour cultivar ‘Twister’, which has white flowers with a blue base and holds an AGM.

entrusted these agapanthus seeds to her parents and, on her return, was greeted by an abundance of vigorous plants. When she and her husband bought Broadleigh Bulbs, these agapanthus became an integral and ongoing part of the nursery.

Additional cultivars, including several of the ‘Royal’ Series from John Bond at The Savill Garden, helped swell Christine’s growing collection of largely outdoor, fully hardy cultivars. Stock plants were increased by division and seed was collected from the very best cultivars and sowed on. Finally, her dream of discovering choice new variants among the throng of agapanthus was realised, and Christine AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 81

PLANT FOCUS introduced three fledgling varieties: ‘Broadleigh Babe’, a 90cm tall, late-flowering, dark-blue cultivar with upright stems and pendulous blooms; ‘Aimee’, a 75cm, bicolour flowering between July and August; and ‘Jonny’s White’, a short, 45cm, freeflowering white that has gone on to win an Award of Garden Merit in the very latest RHS trials, along with another 55 additional candidates, almost a quarter of the 245 cultivars trialled.

Christine, who helped to evaluate the trials, is thrilled to see so many agapanthus, both hardy and non-hardy, deserving of the award. “Previously only a few had an AGM, because the best cultivars had

Above Evergreen variety

‘Snow Crystal’ has large, ornate, white blooms.

Right With their long stems, agapanthus make spectacular cut flowers too – that is, if you can bear to remove them from the garden.

GROWING ADVICE

Caring for agapanthus Lady Christine Skelmersdale explains how to grow these spectacular plants Plant agapanthus in open ground any time during their growing season. Give them well-drained soil in full sun and allow time to settle since established plants flower best.

New plugs can take at least four years to flower. Mulch with straw or leaves to protect deciduous plants over winter.

Do not disturb until plants become over congested and flowering decreases. Lift and divide in spring as they come into growth. Use a pruning saw to cut through the crown, but don’t make plants too small or you will have to wait longer for flowering. Trim the roots by half before replanting.

In containers use loam-based compost and place the plant in the middle of the pot. It will eventually reach 1m across so start in a smaller pot and move up a size each year.

Evergreen, non-hardy agapanthus need winter protection, so move them into a frost-free glasshouse or garage, or cover with bubblewrap and bring indoors if severe frosts threaten. Do not water at this stage: keep compost damp but don’t fret if it dries out. In pots, even hardy deciduous cultivars will need to be kept frost-free to prevent root damage.

When active growth begins in spring, feed with low-nitrogen fertiliser or tomato feed to improve flowering and water regularly, at least once a week, but do not overwater.

Plants flower best when potbound, but once pots become over-congested, divide as above. It can be difficult to extract mature, overgrown plants from containers, so consider planting in plastic pots and concealing these within.

82 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

been bred after the last trial in 1990,” she reveals. Of the AGM winners, she has many favourites. Among the deciduous cultivars, which are hardy down to at least -10°C, she rates vibrant blue ‘Midnight Star’ and ‘Northern Star’, both intensely coloured. Paler ‘Blue Moon’, scores highly with her – “it’s the best all-rounder”, she says – as does the new bicolour ‘Twister’. Among the pendulous-flowered cultivars, ‘Sky’ and ‘August Bells’ both won AGMs, as did the tall and late-flowering, deep-blue ‘Loch Hope’.

All of these cultivars are brilliant in borders, but the tender, evergreen varieties have to be grown in containers so they can be moved into a greenhouse or conservatory over winter. It’s also best to protect hardy agapanthus against cold and frost if they are grown in pots. Christine explains that this extra effort is rewarded by “large, dramatic, flowerheads”.

While the evergreen agapanthus produce fewer blooms, they are bigger and better than the profusion of smaller flowers on deciduous cultivars.

Among the evergreens, new bicolour ‘Fireworks’ picked up an AGM; it also won third place in the Plant of the Year competition at Chelsea 2019.

White-flowered ‘Snow Crystal’ and dark-purple, lilac-striped ‘Megan’s Mauve’ won AGMs too. ■ Broadleigh Bulbs, Bishops Hull, Taunton, Somerset TA4 1AE. Display gardens usually open all year, Monday-Friday, 9am to 4pm, except Bank Holidays, but check website for the latest updates.

Tel: +44 (0)1823 286231; broadleighbulbs.co.uk

PLANT SWATCH

Summer Highlights

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK

Create a seasonal spectacle with zinnias, the intensely colourful annual that effortlessly peps up borders and cut-flower displays

‘Purple Prince’

‘Queen Lime’

Zinnias have steadily been gaining popularity for a while now, thanks to the favour they’ve found with cut-flower growers. Of course for many gardeners this confirmed what we already knew: of all the annual plants, nothing is quite as vibrant, cheerful or long-lasting in late summer as a gloriously colourful patch of well-grown zinnias, showcased here by the bright tones of popular ‘Purple Prince’. For decades zinnias have been lumbered with a reputation for being tricky to grow, but they are in fact straightforward as long as you follow a few rules. Sowing time is key: they hate the cold, so a late sowing, in the first or second week of May, suits them well. Then they are ready to go from greenhouse to garden in the first week of June, after the risk of frosts and cold nights has passed.

One of the best things about zinnias is their zingy colour – and ‘Queen Lime’ delivers exactly that. In a trial at Parham Gardens in Sussex a couple of summers ago, this variety did particularly well, effortlessly demonstrating that it had vigour, excellent flower colour and good stem length – all of which are ideal if you’re growing for cutting. The limegreen varieties are the perfect complement to other flower colours, setting off zesty tangerine or vivid pinks and purples to make flower arrangements with real impact. Look forward to gathering bunches of blooms from midJuly right through to the end of September. If you keep cutting the flowers, the zinnias will continue to produce more blooms, but they always perform at their best in a warm and sunny summer.

‘Queen Lime Orange’ This variety, and its sister, ‘Queen Lime Red’, are just gorgeous, with ombré flowers blending from deep orange to soft lime-green, or dusky-pink to green in the case of ‘Queen Lime Red’. Both performed exceptionally well in the trial at Parham, as did all the different coloured zinnias in the ‘Benary’s Giant’ range – if you see these in a seed catalogue, don’t hesitate to order. Eminent bedding plant breeder Benary was founded in Germany by Ernst Benary in 1843, the same year he introduced Zinnia ‘Benary’s Giant’ to the market. It speaks volumes for the quality of this strain that they are still available today, and continue to perform so brilliantly. For late colour and sheer floral spectacle, this annual is hard to beat.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 83

JOURNEY of Discovery Plan the perfect road trip and explore England with our guide to the best gardens within easy reach of the country’s main thoroughfares – en route or as destinations in their own right

84 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The Alnwick Garden

North & South

Head north out of London to take in a string of splendid gardens, ancient castles and ever-changing scenery

F

Hatfield House

rom London, the M1 and A1 routes head up the country in parallel for about 170 miles, all the way to Leeds in West Yorkshire. From here, the A1 carries on up to Edinburgh, passing through Darlington, Durham, with its notable cathedral, Alnwick, and along the dramatic stretch of coastline near Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Hatfield House near St Albans is one of the first great gardens you’ll encounter while heading north up this route. The 17th-century Jacobean property was built by the first Lord Salisbury and is still owned by the Cecil family today. Covering 42 acres, the extensive grounds offer a buffet of orchards, parterres, terraces and a maze. A new water sculpture, Renaissance, by Angela Conner has been installed on the North Front of the house. See hatfieldhouse.co.uk Between Stamford and Grantham, at Easton Walled Garden, Lady Ursula Cholmondeley is renowned for growing magnificent sweet peas – but there is so much more to explore at this lovingly restored estate. See visiteaston.co.uk At The Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, the Duchess of Northumberland brought fame to the Norman property with the 120-jet Grand Cascade, but there is something here for gardeners of all ages. There are ornamental gardens and rose gardens to explore and, in keeping with its use as a filming location for Harry Potter, an enthralling poison garden. See alnwickgarden.com

IMAGES SHUTTERSTOCK; HATFIELD HOUSE; CLIVE NICHOLS

OTHER GARDENS TO VISIT

Easton Walled Garden

Brodsworth Hall A Victorian property near Doncaster with formal gardens and pleasure grounds. english-heritage.org.uk

Goddards House and Garden This Arts & Crafts garden in York has a lovely scented garden. nationaltrust.org.uk

Crook Hall Gardens Find a cotoneaster and hornbeam maze and secret walled garden at this Grade I listed property in Durham, which dates back to the 13th century. crookhallgardens.co.uk

Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park An open-air sculpture gallery near Ripon. himalayangarden.com York Gate A one-acre garden in Leeds with 14 garden rooms. perennial.org.uk

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 85

Leeds Castle

South East Meander south from London through Kent, the garden of England, enjoying historic gardens and wonderful views of the Downs

T

ravelling south towards Dover, from where ferries to France depart, will lead you along the M20.

This is a short motorway running through the Kent Downs towards the famous white cliffs.

Along the way, near Sevenoaks, Ightham Mote is a medieval manor house now under the care of the National Trust. In Ightham Mote addition to the original moat, its grounds comprise several distinct garden rooms, including a cutting garden, courtyard garden and a bowling green, which was famously painted by OTHER GARDENS TO VISIT John Singer Sargent. See nationaltrust.org.uk Further south, make a special trip to privately owned Belmont House Great Comp Goodnestone Park. This was one of and Gardens Rare plants fill seven Jane Austen’s favourite places to stay, Views of the Kent acres surrounding a Goodnestone Park and it is easy to see why. A parterre and Downs define this 17th-century house.

18th-century property, greatcompgarden.co.uk terraces descend from the Georgian south of Faversham. property, and lead to a walled garden, Godinton House A pinetum and large woodland walk and gravel garden.

A walled garden and kitchen garden feature.

See goodnestoneparkgardens.co.uk rose garden feature belmont-house.org Leeds Castle, south of Maidstone, is at this Ashford estate. nationaltrust.org.uk a grand, historic building, that marked Doddington Place its 900th year in 2019. It has plenty to There is a notable Lullingstone Castle offer visitors but children in particular woodland garden at and the World Garden this Victorian property. will enjoy the diversion of its intricate See the plant collection doddingtonplace maze, made up of 2,400 yew trees. of Tom Hart-Dyke. gardens.co.uk See leeds-castle.com lullingstonecastle.co.uk

Trentham Gardens

North West IMAGES THOMAS ALEXANDER; NATIONAL TRUST/ANDREW BUTLER/JOHN MILLER/VAL CORBETT; MARIANNE MAJERUS; JOE WAINWRIGHT

Discover rich culture and heritage in the West Midlands en route to the Lake District

F

rom Rugby, where Rugby School gave its name to the contact sport, skirt around Birmingham on the M6, and stop in to pick up pieces from the potteries of Stoke-on-Trent. The motorway passes Liverpool, Manchester, Lancaster and Carlisle, ending just over the border in Scotland at Gretna Green, taking in England’s industrial heartland before the pristine beauty of the Lake District.

Hill Top Trentham Gardens are located just south of Stoke-on-Trent.

Here, seek out the Italian Gardens, reinvigorated by Tom Stuart-Smith, as well as the Rivers of Grass and the Floral Labyrinth, designed by Piet Oudolf. See trentham.co.uk Between the M6 and the western edge of the Peak District National Park is Biddulph Grange. This is the creation of Victorian James Bateman, who, over 20 years, amassed an astonishing collection of plants from around the world.

Biddulph Grange See nationaltrust.org.uk Close to Windermere in Cumbria is Hill Top, erstwhile home of author Beatrix Potter.

Flowers and vegetables tumble through her kitchen garden such that it isn’t hard to imagine Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail feasting on fresh carrots here.

See nationaltrust.org.uk

OTHER GARDENS TO VISIT Dalemain Masses of roses and a children’s garden feature at this country home near Penrith. dalemain.com Dorothy Clive Garden A colourful wooded quarry garden near Market Drayton. dorothy clivegarden.co.uk Levens Hall Home to what is said to be the world’s oldest topiary gardens, this

Cumbrian property dates from the 1690s. levenshall.co.uk Tatton Park A Japanese garden, glasshouses and a maze feature in these 50-acre grounds in Cheshire. tattonpark.org.uk Holker Both the formal gardens here in Cumbria and the informal landscape are in the care of Lucy Cavendish. holker.co.uk

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 87

Hanham Court Gardens

The Garden at Miserden

South West Trace the gently rolling landscape of the Cotswolds and unspoilt Somerset Levels, before heading towards the Devon coast

I

OTHER GARDENS TO VISIT Cothay Manor Cottage and courtyard gardens and a river walk feature at this historic Taunton manor. cothaymanor.co.uk Tyntesfield A Gothic Revival house is matched with yew topiary and a formal rose garden. nationaltrust.org.uk Hestercombe Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian gardens

cover 50 acres, with activities for children and a tea room. hestercombe.com Jekka’s Just outside Bristol, Jekka McVicar grows more than 400 culinary herbs in raised beds. jekkas.com Morton Hall Gardens Eight-acre gardens near Worcester with sweeping views. morton hallgardens.co.uk

88 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

n Gloucestershire, join the M5 motorway to take in the sheep-speckled folds of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire before entering the West Country proper, where cider is made and accents carry a soft burr. Skirt Bristol, then head over the Somerset levels towards the Devonshire coast.

The Garden at Miserden, not far from Stroud, is an awardwinning, privately owned property with views over a deer park.

Laid out in the 17th century, it has been updated over the years – you’ll find a topiary yew walk by Lutyens and mixed borders packed with roses and herbaceous plants. See miserden.org Also in Gloucestershire is Westbury Court Garden, a Dutchinspired water garden with canal and circular pond, restored to appear as it did in 1720, with plants authentic to the era. See nationaltrust.org.uk Due to ongoing works, Hanham Court Gardens near Bristol has been open to group tours only, but make a note of this enchanting, garden by Isabel and Julian Bannerman. See Westbury Court Garden hanhamcourtgardens.co.uk

Tintinhull

Cross Country IMAGES ALAMY; MISERDEN; NATIONAL TRUST/JO WHITWORTH/ANDREW BUTLER; CLIVE NICHOLS; THE NEWT IN SOMERSET

Take the scenic route from Hampshire to Devon, enjoying chocolate-box villages and very English countryside along the way

T

Malverleys

OTHER GARDENS TO VISIT Forde Abbey Historic Dorset gardens maintained by head gardener Joshua Sparkes and team. fordeabbey.co.uk Common Farm Flowers A flower farm near Yeovil with a cutting garden that opens for tours. commonfarm flowers.com Barrington Court A Tudor manor house near Ilminster

surrounded by flower beds and orchards. nationaltrust.org.uk Stourhead A Wiltshire garden famous for its grand follies and landscape. nationaltrust.org.uk Sir Harold Hillier Gardens Filled with 42,000 trees, its Centenary Border is the UK’s longest mixed double border. hants.gov.uk

The Newt

he A303 leading south-west out of Greater London is not the fastest of routes to the English Riviera towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, but it is certainly picturesque, with breathtaking views of Stonehenge, and tempting B-roads to explore along the way.

It is also one of the best ways to reach Dorset, which is all charmingly understated thatched cottages and Jurassic coast.

In Hampshire, the garden at Malverleys is spread over ten acres. Its elegant design bears the influence of several greats of English gardening, including Christopher Lloyd, William Robinson and Vita Sackville-West. See malverleys.co.uk The Newt in Somerset, not far from Piet Oudolf’s garden at Hauser & Wirth, is a recently established grand garden. Built around Hadspen, a property that once belonged to the Hobhouse family, the focus at The Newt is on a productive garden and cidermaking. See thenewtinsomerset.co.uk Tintinhull, near Yeovil, is an Arts & Crafts garden modelled on Hidcote.

It was later taken on by Penelope Hobhouse, who lived here for over a decade, bringing her unmistakable style to the garden. See nationaltrust.org.uk ■ AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 89

COMPETITION

WIN A GREAT BRITISH HOLIDAY Your once-in-a-lifetime trip includes: Free international flights (if applicable)

Two-night London stay

Tickets on the Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh A two-night stay in Edinburgh Tickets to Blenheim Palace Afternoon tea

A British food tour

A night in a Cotswolds hotel

West End show tickets with dinner

Enter our competition for your chance to win a holiday in Britain for two worth up to £5,000, including free international flights What would your dream holiday to Britain include? A five-star stay in London and tickets to a West End show? A trip to the historic Scottish capital, Edinburgh? How about a stay in the Cotswolds, including a visit to one of Britain’s finest stately homes? Well, with our Great British Holiday competition, you can win all of this and more.

London luxury Starting with free flights (for overseas entrants), the winner and their guest will travel to London for two nights in a London landmark, staying at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London. Enjoy afternoon tea at the TÎNG Restaurant 35 floors up, with the London skyline far below.

Your visit will also include tickets to a top West End show of your choice, with a lavish three-course meal to make your night in the capital one to remember.

Dream your way to Edinburgh Next, our winner and their guest will be whisked to Edinburgh on the Caledonian Sleeper train. Departing central London at night, you will bed down in a Club Room and wake for breakfast in the Club Car before arriving in Edinburgh.

Your base in the city will be the luxury Radisson Collection Edinburgh, located on the famous Royal Mile, with stunning views of the Old Town. During your stay you’ll enjoy a food tour of the city, with tastings of

90 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

traditional Scottish dishes and drinks, rounded off with traditional afternoon tea.

The charming Cotswolds To conclude your trip, it’s time to escape to the countryside to visit one of Britain’s finest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace, as well as its formal gardens and Capability Brown landscape. Accommodation for the night will be at The Feathers hotel, an inviting 17th-century townhouse hotel in the historic market town of Woodstock. After a traditional English breakfast, you’ll be free to explore your surroundings: the idyllic Oxfordshire Cotswolds, home to some of England’s most beautiful villages.

Two-night stay for two, including breakfast and afternoon tea, at the Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London, the capital’s highest hotel. www.shangri-la.com

Two premium theatre tickets in the stalls or dress circle, plus a threecourse meal with wine, from Buyagift, the UK’s leading provider of experience days. www.buyagift.co.uk

Two-night stay for two, including breakfast, at the Radisson Collection Edinburgh, located on the city's Royal Mile. www.radissonhotels.com

Two tickets for a trip to Blenheim Palace, one of the country's finest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. www.blenheimpalace.com

Two return tickets on the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Edinburgh.

Accommodation and breakfast included. www.sleeper.scot

Enjoy an Edinburgh British Food Tour for two with upgraded drinks package, including traditional afternoon tea, from go-to gift experience company Red Letter Days. www.redletterdays.co.uk

One-night stay for two at The Feathers, a charming 17th-century townhouse hotel near Blenheim Palace.

Includes breakfast. www.feathers.co.uk

HOW TO ENTER Go to www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/ GBH2020 or fill in the coupon on the right with the answer to the question:

Question: Which of these cities sits on an extinct volcano? a) London b) Edinburgh c) Newcastle

SEND YOUR COUPON TO: US readers – Great British Holiday Competition 2020, The English Garden, C/O NPS Media Group, 2 Corporate Drive, Suite 945, Shelton, CT 06484 UK and ROW – Great British Holiday Competition 2020, The English Garden, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ, UK

My answer: Name: Address:

Postcode: Tel no: TERMS AND CONDITIONS Closing date for entries is 31 July 2020. The winner will be announced on www.theenglishgarden.co.uk on 7 August 2020, and the holiday can be taken between 1 September 2020 and 31 May 2021, subject to availability. For full terms and conditions, go to www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/GBH2020

Email: Terms and conditions apply. For full details go to chelseamagazines.com/ terms-and-conditions Tick here if you subscribe to The English Garden Tick if you are happy to receive relevant information about new products or services from our competition partners via email , post , or phone , and/or The Chelsea Magazine Company via email , post , or phone

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CRAFTSPEOPLE

Handfuls of aromatic petals are added to the big copper still to make the purest rose water.

Nature’s Bounty Founder of Sussex-based AS Apothecary Amanda Saurin grows her own plants, which she uses to make small-batch natural skincare products and botanical infusions WORDS HOLLY FARRELL PHOTOGRAPHS MIMI CONNOLLY

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 93

CRAFTSPEOPLE

M

ost people when they see a field of lavender, spikes of indigo flowers nodding in hazy sunshine as far as the eye can see, would breathe deeply of the scented air and think how beautiful and romantic it all is. Not so Amanda Saurin, whose heart sinks: “First, where’s the biodiversity? And second, what a horrible lavender!” She much prefers to grow the less camphoric English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Maillette’), not commercially used Lavandula x intermedia.

As the founder of AS Apothecary, makers of natural skincare products, she freely admits to being obsessive and picky about the plants that she uses, but years of experience have given her a deep understanding of plants and their therapeutic qualities. “People often think a plant is just a plant, but that’s all wrong.

A rose at the beginning of the season will smell different at the end of the season.

94 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Above Roses in bloom on AS Apothecary’s pretty Sussex farm plot.

Below Amanda Saurin transforms these raw ingredients into natural skincare products.

When I go foraging I have lots of OS maps marked with notes about what I’ve found, and when I found it. And then I turn them into beautiful things.”

Amanda had an early lesson in plantsmanship from her childhood garden on the banks of the Firth of Forth – “we could only grow massively salt-tolerant plants” – and as a trained herbalist and homeopath, she grew organic plants to use for her clients, wanting to be able to guarantee their quality. However, it was moving to Cyprus and meeting Mariam Khan, a sufi (an Islamic mystic) that changed her life. “I was sitting in her kitchen when she asked if I’d tried orange blossom water. I said no, so she sprayed some – she had distilled it herself – and it was so incredible I asked if she would teach me how to make it. I spent seven happy years learning how to distil plants.

You can’t treat all plants the same – for example, some need distilling hard and fast, some low and slow – to best extract the therapeutics and scents.”

An inspiration wall in Jo’s studio, with pictures of naturalised fritillaries, her favourite alliums and the drifts of wildflowers that she is so drawn to.

Having moved back to the UK, Amanda added distilled products to her herbalist repertoire until she was approached by Content, a London-based wellbeing shop, to make natural beauty products, “at which point I literally fell about laughing”, she recalls. But, convinced by them that her skincare products would find a market, she began making and selling creams and balms – at first through Content, but then under her own brand. Now she has a shop in Lewes, a business employing 15 women, and her products are sold across Europe and in Hong Kong.

Whatever plants they can grow themselves they do, in a distilling garden located in the corner of a friend’s farm where the land has been organically managed for the past 100 years. Dissuaded from her initial pretty garden plans by her friends – “they told me I had to think like a farmer, or I’d spend all my

time weeding” – the plants are grown in rows. Roses, 250 of them, rub shoulders with calendula, chamomile, lavender, artemisia and more. A third of every row is left to flower for the benefit of the farm’s bees and other wildlife, and they use comfrey from the farm to make a liquid plant feed. Initially everything was planted through plastic, weed-proof sheeting, but that didn’t leave any space for natural self-seeding of the annuals, so they are trialling alternative, more eco-friendly mulches such as cardboard.

Anything Amanda can’t grow in the UK she sources carefully from an extensive group of contacts she has built up through her travels. Rose oil (she only distils whole rose water from her plants, as the acreage required to extract just the oil from the flowers is immense) comes from a grower in Iran,

Above left Amanda’s

preferred English lavender, ‘Maillette’.

Top right Clary, Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica, is dried before use.

Above Rosa gallica var. officinalis, known as the apothecary’s rose, is grown for its petals.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 95

CRAFTSPEOPLE out to dry overnight before distilling the next day, but their attention to detail can mean hours at a time spent plucking individual petals from the rose buds so that no green sepals contaminate the rose water, or snipping up dried calendula petals because it makes them easier to grind for their Bioactive Mineral Powder #2.

They also cold press oils from seeds such as nigella (‘black seed oil’) and pomegranate, producing thick, unctuous oils that go into the Wild Beauty Balm and more. Amanda personally formulates all her products, sometimes tinkering with the recipe for a year, and considers many factors. “First, it has to do what it is intended to do, then the therapeutics of the plants have to be beneficial to that intention, and finally the scent has to be right.”

Amanda has accumulated generations’ worth of plant lore and, coupled with an incredible attention to detail at every stage, this ensures that her ingredients are of the highest quality and her products are uniquely natural. She has little time for big-pharma: “the further you get from the original plant, the less effective the therapeutics are. When a product says it is ‘naturally derived’ on the label, how many chemical processes has it been through? Does it even resemble the original plant’s compounds? And, when you take out just the active ingredient, you lose the balancing effect of the rest of

whom she meets in Istanbul every year to collect the oil. Olive oil, orange blossom and cedar resin among other ingredients come from Cyprus, many of which Amanda harvests herself annually. She also forages on the Isle of Harris to create unique island ingredients such as sugar kelp water and bog myrtle oil (the former tastes like the sea, “not fishy sea, but deep sea”; the latter has overtones of cardamomlaced gingerbread), some of which go into her products and some of which are used by the Isle of Harris Distillers in their gin.

It’s important to Amanda that she and her team have control over the whole production process, and when something needs picking urgently, everyone helps with the harvest. Most of the plants are laid 96 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Top Flowerheads are painstakingly handplucked from roses.

Above right Rose petals on the drying rack.

Above left Calendula flowers are steeped in oil on the windowsill of the distilling barn.

Right Plucking calendula petals ready for drying and grinding.

the plant,” she says. By distilling, drying or pressing her own ingredients, Amanda knows how many extraction steps away from the original plant each of them has gone, and it’s usually not very many.

This small-batch approach to her products extends to the rest of the business. “I’m not interested in being a big company,” she says. “I want to grow sustainably, doing what we do well, collaborating with other businesses I admire and like, and employing and supporting amazing women along the way.” New sidelines include WILDEVE Recipe No. 1, a non-alcoholic, botanical infusion drink.

Amanda has a clear and effusive love of her products and the plants and processes that go into creating them. “I am really obsessive about it,” she admits, “but it’s fun. What a pleasure it is to have found a job where I can get up every morning and think, ‘Woohoo, work! What shall I do today – pick, distil, or make?’ So many lovely choices.” ■ For details, visit asapoth.com and wild-eve.com

Top Amanda’s shop in Lewes, Sussex.

Above A first-aid salve made from calendula.

Right Distilled rose water trickles slowly from the condenser.

LAST WORD

The Name of the Rose Is a treasured plant diminished by the lack of a name? In a garden filled with such mysteries, Katherine Swift advises the application of the personal touch

98 THE ENGLISH GARDEN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

“

Some plants have no name; some plants lose theirs; others have them taken away”

Maybe someone gave you a cutting and the name got lost along the way. I have a rose here that has been grown from a cutting of a cutting of a rose that came originally from a rather grand old garden nearby. A climber with purplish-pink muddled blooms, there are bushes of it all over the village.

I stuck mine in a rather unprepossessing corner behind a wall and simply ignored it. But this year it made a really splendid show, and I was ashamed not to know what it was; the lack of a name somehow diminished it. Looking at it with greater attention, I discovered that it is R. ‘Morletii’, a hybrid Boursault rose dating from 1883. Boursault roses are extremely hardy, thornless, very early flowering (a full month before most other roses), and often have excellent autumn colour. Now I know, I can look out for other Boursault roses.

But sometimes missing names don’t matter.

Your own names are best, with all their personal associations: ‘The rose that grew on Jack Clee’s grave’, ‘The agapanthus we brought back from holiday in the Scillies’. Names like these are more precious than anything you can find in books. ■

ILLUSTRATION JULIA RIGBY PORTRAIT RICHARD BLOOM

‘W

hat’s in a name? That which we call a rose / by any other name would smell as sweet’, to quote from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Do you mind if a plant in your garden has the wrong name – or no name? What about a name you dislike? I couldn’t possibly plant Rosa ‘Sexy Rexy’, and I cringe at ‘Little White Pet’, despite it being a mainstay of my late-summer rose border.

Names matter. I find it disconcerting to be away on holiday and not know the names of local plants.

Climbing up through the cloud forest in Grenada, I found myself asking the name of every tree species we passed – incidentally also gaining time to catch my breath when my much fitter companion, leaping on ahead of me, had to stop to tell me.

Perhaps you have forgotten a name, or lost the label. Or maybe something was already misnamed when you acquired it. In the garden here I have a very pretty, May-flowering, dapple-pink rose with no name. I bought it as ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’, though it clearly isn’t. (Both are Spinosissimas, but ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ is short, semi-double and dark crimson; this is tall, single and pale.) The closest thing is the old, dapple-pink ‘Glory of Edzell’, but it’s not that either. There were once hundreds of these lovely little Spinosissima roses (also known as Scotch or Burnet roses), but they lost their names when they went out of fashion in the late 19th century. I have given up trying to identify this one; we call it ‘Not Mary Queen of Scots’ instead.

Some plants have no name; some plants lose theirs; others have them taken away. When I was making the little late-18th-century flower garden here at Morville, I planted the Four Stud Chinas: ancient Chinese garden roses introduced into Britain in the second half of the 18th century and the early years of the 19th. These are the roses from which all our modern repeat-flowering roses ultimately descend: ‘Slater’s Crimson China’, ‘Old Blush China’, ‘Hume’s Blush China’ and ‘Parks’ Yellow Teascented China’. I love their subtle colours and wild, fragile-looking blooms. But now the taxonomists instruct us to call them R. chinensis ‘Semperflorens’, R. x odorata ‘Pallida’ , R. x odorata ‘Odorata’ and R. x odorata ‘Ochroleuca’. Much less romantic.

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