12 minute read
Chilworth Manor Tucked away in the
Garden PARTY
Tucked away in the Surrey Hills and set amid gorgeous grounds, the amphitheatre of Chilworth Manor’s walled garden is the perfect spot for its popular summer revels
Picture the scene. A dreamy summer’s evening, wine flowing, live music playing in the background and a beautiful picnic to enjoy with friends. You would be forgiven for thinking this was Glyndebourne or Garsington, but no: this is Chilworth Manor, a stunning house and garden tucked into the folds of the Surrey Hills. Its terraced garden forms an amphitheatre, and it’s here that owners Graham and Mia Wrigley host their popular midsummer charity evening, ‘Picnics & Pimm’s’, an event firmly pencilled onto the summer party calendars of the Surrey cognoscenti.
It was on climbing to the viewpoint at nearby Newlands Corner, 177m above sea level, that Graham and Mia found themselves seduced by the beauty of the Surrey Hills. “We had not visited the area before and were astounded by the incredible views,” Mia recalls. “Then when we arrived at Chilworth Manor it was the walled garden that really decided it for us.”
Few locations could be more perfect. The house and gardens sit snugly in a natural bowl against the wooded backdrop of St Martha’s Hill. Alpacas graze contentedly in the adjacent field beside a productive vineyard, planted relatively recently in 2013. Recorded as a monastery in the Domesday book, the Manor was once home to Augustinian monks who kept carp in stew ponds that still exist to this day and have now been repurposed as ornamental Japanese pools. The monastery was mostly destroyed by Henry VIII during the reformation, gradually evolving into the manor house as it stands today. The majority of the additions to the older part of the house were made in the early 1700s by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who added a symmetrical wing and is credited with creating the theatre-like terraced walled garden, still referred to today as ‘The Duchess’s Garden’.
In the aftermath of World War II, Chilworth was purchased from the Duke of Northumberland’s estate by Sir Lionel and Lady Daphne Heald. A prolific supporter of local charities, Lady Heald first opened Chilworth’s garden gates in 1951 in aid of the National Garden Scheme. Having volunteered for the St John Ambulance service and the Red Cross during the war, she was a stalwart of the Scheme, which raises money for nursing and health charities through garden openings, serving as its chairwoman for some 30 years.
Above A stately horse chestnut stands sentinel over the Grimthorpes’ elegant Regency house. Right Clipped box squares neatly surround umbrella-shaped Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’ on the courtyard terrace.
Above Terraced levels in the walled garden are demarcated by ranks of neat box balls. Left Wisteria scales dizzy heights as it covers the walled garden’s brick perimeter with flowers. Far left Smothered with lovely spring blossom, Cercis canadensis.
The garden today has been sympathetically revived and invigorated by the Wrigleys and their team of gardeners. The monastic stew ponds, having languished for years beneath a canopy of trees, have been opened out once again through careful clearing and thinning of undergrowth. “There was already a rock garden here and Graham was keen to incorporate a Japanese theme,” says Mia. This area has all the precision of an oriental garden with carefully positioned Japanese maples, cloud-pruned pines, raked gravel paths and large granite blocks forming a natural sculpture. Circular steppingstones cross the lawn before continuing across the dark waters of the upper pond, overhung by an enormous beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) and a large Sequoia sempervirens, reputedly over 150 years old.
Steps ascend from the woods towards the lawn in front of the house to an Indian bean tree (Catalpa bignonioides) planted by Lady Heald to mark the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. “There’s a commemorative plaque and a box buried under it filled with souvenirs and a newspaper from the day,” says head gardener, John MacRae-Brown.
Above Scented white wisteria and clipped Irish yew on the walled garden’s upper terrace. Right Original monastic stew ponds now form a Japanese water garden, with a waterfall, acers and duck house.
Few climbing plants would be able to do justice to such a magnificent Georgian facade, but Chilworth Manor is fortunate enough to be adorned in the most exquisite Wisteria floribunda. “The wisteria originates from a single plant that has been allowed to ‘layer’ itself and produce new rooted shoots along the side of the house,” says John. “The main trunk is about one metre wide and half a metre deep!” Perfectly toning with a mature Cercis canadensis on
the edge of the lawn, the pale mauve finery heralds the arrival of the warmer months.
A line of immaculately clipped hornbeam trees leads from the lawn to a circular mirrored David Harber Torus sculpture, designed to be viewed as if it were a portal into another world. The hornbeam walk starts beside a wide herbaceous border crammed with perennials and nestling beneath an imposing 30ft-high wisteria-draped wall. This border, named The Daphne Border after Lady Heald, has been reinvigorated by Mia and Graham and brought bang up to date with another modern sculpture: a graceful rusted figure by Rick Kirby.
Turning right through wrought-iron gates reveals Chilworth Manor’s coup de théâtre – terraced lawns surrounded by mellow brick walls. The grassed terraces of the walled garden rise from the elegant facade of the house towards the hillside beyond, which can be glimpsed through a porthole set within the back wall. Erigeron-strewn steps unite each lawned level, offering plenty of space for revellers at the ‘Picnics & Pimm’s’ event.
More wisteria is planted along the upper level of the walled garden on an avenue that symmetrically frames the porthole Left The immaculately kept lawns and paths of through which pasture the walled garden make can be seen. A rogue a superb backdrop for purple specimen sits striking sculpture. amid the scented Below right A careful regime has helped white wisteria, keep box blight at bay W. brachybotrys to protect the garden’s f. albiflora ‘Shiro many box balls. Kapitan’, which was Below left Rick Kirby’s rusted figure adds focus planted around 50 to a border backed by years ago, during Lady dripping wisteria blooms. Heald’s time. “Having
Fruit and quince trees surround the upper terraces, interspersed with obelisks draped with climbing roses
waited five years for the plants to finally bloom, Lady Heald decided that the singular purple one had better stay,” notes Mia with a smile. Behind the wisteria, clipped Irish yews and Magnolia grandiflora are planted alternately, the yews having been reinstated following the discovery of a photograph of the garden in its heyday. In addition to the numerous box balls, fruit and quince trees
Top left Pink-purple Cercis canadensis flowers appear just before leaves emerge. Top right A tree seat encircles the trunk of a magnificent specimen cedar of Lebanon. Above Seating to take in the view over the pond. surround the upper terraces, interspersed with metal obelisks draped with the climbing rose ‘Phyllis Bide’. “There were a lot of apple trees, some quite overgrown. We’ve kept a few of them but some of the less healthy ones have been replaced with quince trees,” Mia reports.
The box parterres on the middle terrace are a newer addition, as are the widened York stone steps that have replaced the crumbling originals, making them easier for visitors to ascend safely. Box blight remains an ongoing concern. “We have only occasionally had to replace box balls due to successive blight attacks, but we’re managing to keep it under control with a couple of fungicide sprays every year. However, with current wetter and milder winters and a much reduced dormancy period, we are now starting to see it persist throughout the year,” laments John.
New life has been sensitively injected into the grounds of Chilworth Manor by the Wrigleys through extensive restoration work. The result is a contemporary garden that respects its historic past while looking ahead to the future. n
Chilworth Manor, Halfpenny Lane, Chilworth, Guildford, Surrey GU4 8NN. The garden normally opens for the National Garden Scheme in May – visit ngs.org.uk for the latest news on openings. Visit chilworthmanorvineyard.com for updates on the garden and vineyard’s own open day in June. Check chilworthmanor.net for ‘Picnics & Pimm’s’ updates.
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After a full English breakfast, you can take advantage of the hotel’s top-class facilities – from its spa to its croquet lawn – or explore the idyllic Oxfordshire Cotswolds, home to some of England’s most beautiful villages.
Two annual tickets to Blenheim Palace, one of the country's fi nest stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. www.blenheimpalace.com Two-night stay for two including breakfast at the Radisson Collection Edinburgh on the city's Royal Mile. www.radissonhotels.com
One-night stay for two at The Athenaeum, a fi vestar hotel in London's Mayfair district, near Buckingham Palace. www.athenaeum hotel.com Two premium theatre tickets, plus a threecourse meal at Prezzo for two with wine, from Buyagift, the UK’s leading provider of experience days. www.buyagift.co.uk
One-night stay for two at Minster Mill, a luxurious Cotswolds hotel near Blenheim Palace. Includes breakfast. www.minstermill.co.uk Visit Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish capital's unmissable historic attraction, followed by a three-course dinner for two from go-to gift experience company Red Letter Days. www. redletterdays.co.uk
HOW TO ENTER
Go to www.chelseamagazines. com/GBH2021 or fi ll in the coupon on the right with the answer to the question:
Question: Which famous Brit was born at Blenheim Palace? a) Isaac Newton b) Queen Victoria c) Winston Churchill
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TERMS AND CONDITIONS
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