12 minute read
Manor House Farm Rose-covered
Opposite ‘Francis E. Lester’, ‘Leverkusen’ and ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’ roses climb over an arch. This page A view of the smart parterre in the Quads garden with its ornamental dovecote.
Above Rosa ‘Maigold’ climbs the wall behind an ornate wooden bench in the Taj Garden; in the foreground, Rosa ‘The Pilgrim’, hydrangeas and Alchemilla mollis. T ake a rambling redbrick farmhouse nestling in gently rolling Norfolk countryside, and add roses. On every weatherworn wall, over every gate and archway, roses climb, ramble and cascade, overflowing into borders and even the kitchen garden beds. Look for a moment longer, though, and there is a sense of something deeper at work here. As the sun rises over the Quads, a parterre at the top of the garden carved out from former lambing fields, cushions of green and plum foliage – box, purple-leaved hebe and Cotinus coggygria – and contrasting spires of foxglove and annual verbascum, soften this flamboyant show.
The design and planting have a strong selfconfidence, a kind of ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it’ vibe, but with an ultra-romantic twist. Clipped box and painted obelisks add structure, while distant trees serve to diffuse early sunlight, and shelter the garden from wind. A quirky dovecote forms a central focus. The effect is somehow simultaneously extravagant and muted, glamorous and full of poetry.
Owners Robin and Libby Ellis moved to Manor House Farm in 1966, but the garden came about much later. “We had four children,” explains Robin. “I was busy farming, Libby was busy raising children, so we really didn’t have that much time to garden.” Libby nods in agreement. “I gardened at the back of the house, but in a small way – just a herbaceous border and lawn.” Robin also had a kitchen garden in this area and there was an inkling of something afoot when Libby gently suggested he may want to re-site it. “I told him to get his kitchen garden out of there, because I didn’t like looking at
This image A rose arch, flanked by foxglove spires and peonies. Below right Owners Robin and Libby Ellis. Below left A wooden bow gate leads through to the Quads garden.
Below A view over the Taj Garden takes in the new greenhouse at the far end, with pink flowers of Rosa ‘Rosy Cushion’ in the foreground. his shabby old greenhouse,” she says, laughing. “So that’s when it started to go a bit further.”
Libby has always been interested in gardening. As a young woman, she worked for her father for six months when the family gardener was out of action. A model at the time, making her way in the world of Mary Quant and Biba, Libby realised that although she loved the modelling, she didn’t love the city. “I think it was really rather good having the two different jobs, but I liked being outside. It was a natural thing, and I like nurturing things.”
In 1995 with their children grown and a son established in the family farming business, Robin and Libby were able to turn their attention more wholeheartedly to the garden. “There were no plans,” says Robin, smiling. “We made it up as we went along.” Starting with the area around the house and courtyards, and expanding out past the archway at the top of the lawn garden, the couple gradually developed different spaces in a variety of styles: a formal pleached lime walk featuring a close-cropped lawn; the Quads parterre; a mixed orchard with mown pathways; a pergola hung heavy with climbing and rambling roses; the ‘hot spot’ – a rockery garden that turned out to be damp and an ideal place for hostas and euphorbias; and an area known as the Taj Garden.
This last one came about in 1997 after a trip to India. Created on the site of a former cattle yard, it was originally destined to become a vegetable plot (Robin’s kitchen garden seems to have been permanently mobile), but a visit to the Taj Mahal inspired the couple to dig out a long rectangular pond. “It was when Princess Diana had been photographed sitting on a bench on her own,” recalls Robin, smiling at Libby. “I put a scaffold plank on concrete blocks, Libby sat on it and I took a photograph.” They both burst out laughing. The pond actually ended up as home to several large carp, although this was not Libby’s initial vision. “I imagined a reflective pool,” she says. “Then the digger came in and the hole was dug. And dug and dug. It was so deep, I was worried about the grandchildren falling in. I ended up saying, ‘If your dog gets in there it won’t be able to get out,’ and, miraculously, the next day there were steps built in.”
The Taj Garden contains a lot of lime from the walls of the old farm buildings which makes it quite alkaline. In fact, most of the four-acre plot is alkaline, although there are a few camellias which don’t seem to mind. The soil is loamy for the most part, but in the slightly sunken space of the Taj Garden they have had problems with waterlogging. “In the wintertime, the paths on one side fill with water and the yew isn’t very happy,” explains Robin. “We did have box hedging [Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’],” adds Libby. “But we got box blight. We had to take about 700 plants out. It also got into the Quads garden, and we had to whip that out too.”
Nevertheless, most plants have thrived here, with deep mixed borders overflowing with roses: ‘Alchymist’, ‘Maigold’, ‘Rosy Cushion’, ‘The Pilgrim’, ‘Iceberg’, ‘Rachel’ – the list is seemingly endless. These are complemented by cottage garden favourites: alchemilla, foxgloves, perennial wallflower Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, with ferns and lily of the valley for shadier spots. Libby is chief designer and plantsperson, with strong ideas on colour – “I have been known to take out the pink foxgloves where I wanted just white” – and also attuned to the needs of the plants. Hydrangeas do well here in shadier positions so they form the bulk of the structure on the north-facing wall.
The glasshouse forms a regal focus at the top of the garden and looks as though it has been here forever. In fact, it was replaced last autumn, with all the accompanying disruption you might imagine: scaffolding up, walls down, footings dug, gutters renewed. In the midst of all this, a mature grapevine. “We had to have the mini-diggers and dump-trucks in here,” says Robin. “I took the vine down and tied it to the outer wall. It was covered in builder’s dust.”
This image Climbing rose ‘Galway Bay’ with Macleaya cordata below. Above left The central pool in the Taj Garden. Top right Soft yellow rose ‘The Pilgrim’. Middle right Showy peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’. Bottom right Rosa ‘Rachel’, a pink-peach fragrant hybrid tea.
Roses at MANOR
HOUSE FARM
In early summer, roses are the undisputed stars. Here are a few of Libby’s favourites
‘KÖNIGIN VON DÄNEMARK’
A highly scented old shrub rose with full blooms, also sold as ‘Queen of Denmark’.
ROSA X ODORATA ‘MUTABILIS’
The flowers on this old China rose start out yellow and peach then age to cerise pink.
Abundant single pink flowers with centres that fade to white as they age, on bushy, low-growing shrubs.
A robust climber with muskfragranced, blush-apricot flowers opening from redtinged buds.
‘ENGLISH MISS’
A free-flowering floribunda rose with soft pink, shapely flowers slightly reminiscent of camellia blooms.
A vigorous climber with double, yellow-orange, strongly fragrant blooms in early summer.
Libby continues: “We Above Inside the new were very lucky it was greenhouse with its such a mild autumn. ‘Black Hamburgh’ (or ‘Schiavva Grossa’) grape I’m just so chuffed vine and scented-leaf everything survived.” pelargoniums including
The couple have clear ‘Lord Bute’. lines of demarcation, with Libby in charge of planting, propagation and all things lawn-related, while Robin concentrates on the kitchen garden, now in its fourth or fifth incarnation at the far end of the plot, and also on all the pruning. “It’s a mammoth task come early spring,” says Libby. “He does it all with secateurs, and he’s very good at it.” Robin looks slightly astonished and then laughs, adding: “I’ve had my carpal tunnels operated on once; I think maybe they need doing again.” What does he enjoy about the pruning process? “I can’t be contacted,” he says, smiling. “I haven’t had a problem with lockdown because I can spend quite a lot of the time on my own without having to involve people.” Libby agrees. “I’m at peace with the world when I’m in the garden or greenhouse. I’d much rather be out here than I would doing housework. I don’t get bored with gardening!” n
Manor House Farm, Wellingham, Fakenham, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE32 2TH. Due to open for the National Garden Scheme on Sunday 20 June, 11am to 5pm. See manor-house-farm.co.uk and ngs.org.uk for more information.
THE SOHO LIGHTING COMPANY
Leading Lights
Combining aesthetic attention to detail and the latest technology, this lighting company provides a complete design service and versatilility of products from fittings to switches
Above Classically French in style, the Romilly Dome Etched Glass Pendant Light (£85) combines a simple style with delicate etching, showcasing the lightbulb within. Opposite left Part of the hand-painted range, the Brewer Industrial Pendant Light (£165) is finished to emulate a timeless enamelled look. Seen here in Squid Ink Blue to co-ordinate with the sofa. Lighting is a fundamental part of any interior scheme, providing illumination for a range of different tasks as well as being a key element of any room’s design. For thorough and considered lighting solutions, The Soho Lighting Company provides high-quality, handcrafted products in timeless styles to suit a range of interiors and exteriors.
The brand was born of founder Lee Lovett’s struggle to find lighting, switches and sockets in the right finishes and quantities as part of her work refurbishing period houses. Founded in 2017, and named after its birthplace, today Soho Lighting has a passionate team of experts and artisans based at its Cornwall design studio and workshop, where the products are hand finished and assembled. Together with a commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, and environmentally and ethically minded production, the team specialises in tailoring products to individual tastes and is readily available to help customers who have concerns about installation and the various challenges of lighting a period home.
Lovett’s frustration at sourcing screwless switches only to find corresponding sockets sporting clearly visible screws led to the design of a range of tasteful, completely screwless switches and sockets. Available in period ‘traditional plate’ and contemporary ‘flat plate’, the simplicity of the design is stunning. The more recently launched ‘Fusion’ range is committed to personalisation, empowering customers to choose a blend of finishes that reflect and complement other hardware finishes within their interior. Creating designs that are sympathetic to a home while lifting an interior design scheme is a pivotal part of the brand’s ethos, as well as working in tandem with clients and to their personal tastes as part of its consultancy service. To this end, Soho Lighting deliberately produces a diverse range of
products to match palettes and schemes, from hardware for switches to pendant lighting, downlights and LED bulbs.
Soho Lighting’s hand-painted enamel pendant range enables customers to match colours to their chosen products and fabrics, while a new range of handblown glass pendants in over 40 different shapes is interchangeable with a variety of fittings and colours. The brand’s range of striking lighting offers an impressive array of options to choose from, including hand-crafted, solid brass outdoor lighting in several finishes, perfect for preparing the garden for summer. Understanding light and how it enhances an interior is at the heart of Soho Lighting’s operation, from creating a beautiful lighting aesthetic to the more practical considerations of task lighting. The brand is one of the few British providers of high Colour Rendering Index (CRI) downlights (see inset) – quality lights that emit a closer representation of natural daylight than is typically found. High CRI provides increased colour definition, greater clarity and contrast, and reduced eye strain, along with a renowned correlation to better mental health. Perfect for task lighting. The passion and commitment of Soho Lighting’s talented Cornish team ensures each product, from outdoor lamps to pendants to switches and sockets, is the highest quality possible. Lovett’s roots in interior design and period renovation projects have resulted in several outstanding products, while the personable service enhances the client’s overall lighting experience.
For more on The Soho Lighting Company’s products and services, visit soholighting.com or call 020 8106 1221.
Top left The Glasshouse Pendant (£576). Top right The 2-gang Fusion Toggle Switches (from £40). Above middle Lee Lovett assembling a Carlisle Outdoor Wall Light (£148.50). Above left Ideal for outdoors, the Hopkin Prismatic Glass Light (£127.50). Above right Light up the garden with a Marlborough wall light (£129). Inset A Brushed Brass Downlight (£28.55), part of the high CRI range.
Aqua Vitae
A water feature, whether traditional or contemporary, can bring a garden to life with its sense of movement or wildlife-attracting properties
This beautiful formal pond, with spouts of water leading down steps to a rill, can be found at Wollerton Old Hall in Shropshire.
