Out & About News, events, jobs to do – and the country’s best Edwardian gardens.

JANUARY Out & About

Phoebe Jayes recommends some of the UK’s loveliest Edwardian gardens and rounds up outdoor jobs to do in winter – as well as the latest news

Edwardian ELEGANCE

The first decade of the 20th century is remembered as a golden age of long summers and garden parties, and this selection recreates that feel

Hidcote Manor

The garden rooms at Hidcote (above) in the Cotswolds were created by Lawrence Johnston to display his extensive plant collection, assembled from countries all over the world. Tel: +44 (0)1386 438333; nationaltrust.org.uk

Folly Farm

Dan Pearson has restored and extended the gardens at Folly Farm in Berkshire, which were originally designed by Edward Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. Features include rooms edged with tall yew hedges, the Sunken Pool Garden, the Flower Parterre and the Dutch Canal Garden. ngs.org.uk

Iford Manor

These Grade I-listed gardens in Wiltshire (below) were created by Edwardian designer Harold Peto. Today, a new generation of owners has expanded the garden while preserving its heritage. Tel: +44 (0)1225 863146; ifordmanor.co.uk

Hestercombe

Spanning three centuries of garden design, Hestercombe in Somerset features the Georgian Landscape Garden, the Victorian Shrubbery and the Edwardian Formal Gardens designed by Edward Lutyens. Tel: +44 (0)1823 413923; hestercombe.com

Rodmarton Manor

Ernest Barnsley’s layout survives in this Cotswold garden, where year-round interest comes from varied planting and topiary, plus a terrace, walled garden and herbaceous borders. Tel: +44 (0)1285 841442; rodmarton-manor.co.uk

Winter jobs

● Take hardwood cuttings from shrubs like cornus, buddleja and honeysuckle.

● Keep harvesting winter crops such as leeks and parsnips.

● Ensure greenhouse heaters are functioning properly. Equally, if it’s a warm day, ventilate the space to reduce humidity and disease.

● Leave out fat balls for birds and put a tennis ball in the bird bath or fountain to stop the water freezing.

● Move vulnerable container plants to a sheltered spot to protect against frost.

● Remove old leaves from hellebores and winter brassicas.

● Order crowns of rhubarb to plant in spring. Get forcers ready so you can force established rhubarb clumps in the new year for an early crop. for an early crop.

HISTORIC mountain climb

In August, on the 250th anniversary of the first recorded ascent of the UK’s highest mountain, botanists recreated the climb. Scotland’s Ben Nevis was first climbed by James Robertson in 1771, to record its plant life for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Two centuries later, British mountaineer Stephen Venables was joined by RBGE’s Regius Keeper Simon Milne and botanists on a climb to collect plant material for the groundbreaking Darwin Tree of Life project, which aims to sequence the genomes of all complex life in the British Isles. darwintreeoflife.org

PEAT SALES banned from 2024

A UK government ban on the sale of peat compost to gardeners from 2024 aims to help tackle climate change and support wildlife. Peatlands across the UK are the most efficient land-based store of carbon, holding three times as much carbon as forests, and they are home to many rare species of wildlife. The plan to preserve peatland for the benefit of the environment includes £50 million of funding to support the restoration of 35,000 hectares of degraded peatland across England.

Sissinghurst RETURN

The National Trust have announced that Troy Scott Smith has been appointed new head gardener at Kent’s Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Troy was previously head gardener at the renowned Grade I-listed garden from 2013 to 2019 and, prior to that, was a gardener there between 1992 and 1997. Over the past two years he has been working at Iford Manor, the privately owned former home of Harold Peto in Wiltshire. “Sissinghurst is unlike any other garden I know,” says Troy. “From my very first encounter 34 years ago, it took my breath away. I’m thrilled to be returning.” nationaltrust.org.uk

VENTNOR’S unique palms

Plant Heritage has awarded Ventnor Botanic Garden’s Arecaceae (palm tree) collection with National Plant Collection status. Some of the oldest palm trees in the UK are part of this newly accredited collection, including some that were planted in the 1860s. Ventnor is located on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, its mild microclimate making it ideal for conserving these exotic trees. When gardeners first planted palms at Ventnor in the 1860s, most were considered ‘high risk’ in terms of hardiness and their ability to survive outside, but trials since 2000 have shown an increasing number of palms can be grown outdoors here, as a result of the trees adapting to a warming climate. Ongoing studies of the trees will help boost our understanding of how climate change is affecting various plants and trees, and how gardens might be impacted in future. plantheritage.org.uk

This image Looking across the Rose Garden, hidden water garden and the the inner moat. Opposite Flowers of Chimonanthus praecox.

WHITE MAGIC

Tucked behind an unassuming facade, gardens lie within gardens and moats sit within moats, offset by snow-topped topiary, at Beckley Park in Oxfordshire

WORDS VANESSA BERRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BLOOM

The approach to Beckley Park is a threequarter-mile rough track flanked with staddle stones and parkland trees. It’s barely negotiable in midwinter, but the destination is worth the ride. With snow outlining hedges and topiary, the silence is absolute in this romantic, moated garden on the edge of Otmoor. Unbelievably it is just five miles from Oxford city centre.

The unadorned, five-bay redbrick front looks just like a comfortable farmhouse and gives little indication of what lies behind it. Look to one side, however, and you will spot a hedge-topped, turreted wall rising from a moat. Then, around the corner of the house, you are confronted by a very different, castellated facade, with three projecting towers. It is here that you enter a magical world of water and topiary.

The Tudor mansion stands within two concentric moats. At the back, it faces out over the third, inner

The present house, one room deep, was erected in about 1530 as a hunting lodge

Some of the ingeniously cut topiary forms in the Yew Garden look like elaborate chess pieces.

Above The rear facade moat, the site of an resembles a small castle; earlier hunting lodge, topiary along the central path forms alcoves for built by Alfred the summer planting. Great. The present Left An objet trouvé from house, one room deep, Amanda’s travels in the was erected in about Middle East. Below right Beckley 1530, also as a hunting Park’s Amanda Feilding lodge. “It was designed in front of the cowshed. for parties rather than Below left A small turret for living in,” says in the wall above the encircling second moat. Amanda Feilding, to whom Beckley has been home since birth. “Some rooms are wood panelled and all have exquisite fireplaces. It was very avant-garde for its time.” The original staircase, made from the same local oak that was used for the Codrington Library at All Souls College, Oxford, and still barely dented by 500 years of wear, spirals up through the central tower. At each end of the back facade are garderobe towers that, until recently, went straight down into the inner moat.

Beckley Park was bought by Amanda’s grandfather, Percy Feilding, in 1919. Prior to that, the house had been in the hands of yeoman farmers for a couple of hundred years. It was probably during this period that the central tower, with its oriel window, fell down, giving the front facade its plain farmhouse-like appearance. But, luckily, there was no money for Victorian improvements, so the house remains largely in its 16th-century state.

The garden was laid out by Amanda’s grandfather, who first paved over the house side of the inner moat to prevent the kitchen from being constantly flooded. This is now a stone-flagged path, overrun with wild strawberries in summer, while the truncated moat has become water gardens on either side, one planted with great stands of gunnera.

A passionate gardener, Percy trained as an architect. His wife, Clothilde Brewster, grew up in Italy, so the garden they created in the 1920s is both architectural and Italianate in its formality. It also has a strong flavour of the Arts & Crafts movement, attributable to Clothilde having studied with leading architect and garden designer Reginald Blomfield. The space on two sides of the house and between the moats is defined by high yew and box hedging, which encloses different areas of the garden, and also runs in swirls through hedged compartments. The garden’s main impact comes from its foliage structure and shape, especially when hedges and topiary are outlined by snow.

Percy died before the garden was mature, so it was Amanda’s father, Basil, an artist, who shaped the hedges and added more topiary. He clipped several lines of hedging Left Amanda bought the into pyramids, while caravan from travellers others were moulded when her children were into roundels and young; it’s now enjoyed by her grandchildren. pediments, evoking the Bottom right Hellebores defensive crenellations are plentiful along the of a medieval castle. Ladies Walk, the bank Much of the design is between the moats. Bottom left The teddy symmetrical, but there bear was the result of are pleasing variations. mistaken clipping. The Yew Garden is enclosed by high hedges and filled with geometric shapes and bird topiary. To the annoyance of Amanda’s father, a teddy bear, the result of a mistake in the clipping, was always the figure that caught every visitor’s attention.

Domes, cubes and pyramids of box alternate down the stone path of the Inner Moat Garden. These shapes, magical in winter, also form protected spaces for summer planting of herbaceous perennials, including phlox, geraniums, achilleas, persicaria, delphiniums and hollyhocks. Circular canopies of hornbeam tucked into two corners of the Inner Moat Garden hedging reflect one another across a central path. One hedged compartment contains a treeless lawn, while in the other a splendid tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) soars to roof height.

Within another yew compartment is the Rose Garden, where flower beds are contained by thighhigh box hedges with box pyramids at each corner. Pyramids also run between the beds, echoing other castellations. A lawn widens out into a semi-circular niche in the yew hedging, framing the statue of a little putto, which has been there all Amanda’s life.

The garden’s main impact is its foliage structure and shape, especially when hedges and topiary are outlined by snow

Looking down the Yew Garden onto snowcapped peacocks, cones, spirals and pyramids.

The pillars, half-hidden by reeds, appear to emerge from the water, an idea borne of Amanda’s time in Egypt

Above Ionic capitals form stepping stones across the ice-covered pond to the lake’s central island. Left Pyramids in the Inner Moat Garden are kept in immaculate shape by Arthur Jenkins. Below right Wrought iron gates open to an avenue of limes on the hillside. Below left Frost-rimed yew, Beckley Park’s signature plant.

Over the past few years, Amanda has built bridges over the moats using old telegraph poles covered with grass to create a circular walk and has opened up vistas through the yew hedging. “These bridges and views have made connections across the garden,” she explains.

The garden is surrounded by parkland trees, including sweet chestnuts and oaks that are well over 100 years old. These trees, along with pears, mulberries, ash, hawthorns and yews, line a bank known as Ladies Walk between the outer two moats. Filled with waves of cow parsley in spring, this leads out towards a wrought iron gate, hung between two brick piers and leading nowhere.

Amanda’s main contribution to Beckley has been to create a large pond in a previously undistinguished paddock opening out on to Otmoor. “The space has been defined according to sacred geometry,” explains Amanda, “so that the eye is drawn towards the centre of the pond.” Ionic capitals form stepping stones to an island on which stand eight pillars. Both capitals and pillars were found on the Scottish estate of Amanda’s husband, Jamie Neidpath, Earl of Wemyss and March. The pillars, half-hidden by reeds, appear to emerge from the water, an idea borne of Amanda’s time spent in Egypt and Sri Lanka. “In the desert, you see columns half-hidden by sand, reminders of passing

Beckley has been the home of artists and thinkers, visible in the strong simplicity of its lines

Left Crisp geometric shapes in the Inner Moat Garden seen from above. Below Frost outlines the dainty leaves of box. Bottom The hunting lodge is reached by an ancient bridge across the second moat.

civilisations. That was the thinking behind putting the columns here sunk in the water.” Encircled by reeds and golden irises brought from Stanway, Jamie’s Gloucestershire home, the pond is now a haven for wildlife, including swans, ducks and herons. Amanda has planted many trees around the pond, including willows and poplars. “Jamie couldn’t understand why, because he hates poplars,” Amanda recalls, “but poplars are one of the most ancient British trees.”

This romantic spot is not just Amanda’s home, it is also the headquarters of the Beckley Foundation. Set up by Amanda in the 1990s, the foundation pioneers scientific research into the use of psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and LSD, as conventional medicines for the treatment of serious psychological conditions, such as depression and addiction, and also neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Research is carried out in conjunction with Imperial College London, and other prestigious academic institutions around the world. Amanda and her team work in a converted cowshed between the stable yard and orchard.

With Amanda often away on her travels, maintaining the garden can be a problem. The topiary and hedges are trimmed once a year by Arthur Jenkins, who has worked at Beckley for some 25 years and has an instinctive feel for form. “It’s very labour intensive,” admits Amanda. “My father used to have to do it himself, reluctantly breaking off from his passion as an artist.”

For over a century, Beckley has been the home of artists and thinkers, something that’s visible in the strong simplicity of its lines, combined with the complexity of its conception. It is a remarkable, enigmatic place, with an abiding sense of history. n

A Legend of MELROSE

At Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott’s former home in the Scottish Borders, winter still holds plenty of interest – as well as jobs to do – for head gardener Tim Owen

WORDS JO WHITTINGHAM PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX

Scott transformed a simple farmhouse into an elaborate, turreted mansion, with picturesque gardens surrounding it.

Sedums and euphorbias glisten icily in the herbaceous borders that line the wide path to the grand orangery.

On a frosty winter morning, when the gently undulating hills of the Scottish Borders are dusted white and the yellows and russets of the last leaves glow in the low sunlight, it is easy to see how Sir Walter Scott was captivated by the beautiful Tweed Valley, just south of Galashiels and Melrose, and why he chose to make it his home. Between 1812 and the mid-1820s, he transformed a simple farmhouse into an elaborate, turreted, Scottish baronial mansion that he renamed Abbotsford. Scott also quickly acquired a considerable estate, and took a keen interest in the planting of many trees for shelter and to improve the appearance of the landscape. In the areas surrounding the house, however, he eschewed the fashion for the open vistas of Capability Brown landscape gardens in favour of a more enclosed Picturesque style, with ornamental planting in a series of three walled gardens, leading out to winding paths through the woodlands beyond.

His south-facing kitchen garden is sloped to take advantage of its aspect and quartered by paths, most of which

Above Low box hedges line a path that leads under a rustic rose arch. Below Rimed with frost, a lingering rose flower. Head gardener Tim Owen waits until early spring to prune. are lined with low box hedges that come to the fore in winter. “This layout is more or less the same as it was in Scott’s time,” explains Abbotsford’s head gardener Tim Owen. “It was a productive garden to provide fruit and vegetables for the people in the house, but Scott added ornamental planting to screen the beds and make it more attractive.”

Even in early winter, once almost all the colour has drained from late blooms, the striking double borders flanking the central path still brim with an iced tracery of flowered stems and seedheads against a backdrop of the intertwining branches of Rosa alba hedges. Tall seedheads of Agapanthus ‘Blue Giant’ and Acanthus mollis rise up among the shaggy, silvered clusters of Euphorbia x martini and sword-like crocosmia foliage. The flat flowerheads of Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’ retain a tinge of their rich red-pink, while Lysimachia clethroides adds a warm autumnal brown as its foliage fades. Repeating groups of Phlomis russeliana, with whorled pompon seedheads on long stems, also provide welcome height and structure through the winter months.

“We aim to try to get as much colour throughout the year as we can,” says Tim. “Annuals, such as Nicotiana sylvestris, cosmos and Ammi visnaga, come to the fore in autumn as the perennials fade, but the perennial plants are quite architectural and the birds feed on their seedheads, so we leave them standing for as long as we can through winter.” With the help of two gardeners and a team of enthusiastic volunteers Tim keeps the borders looking their best by cutting back individual plants as they fade, but the bulk of the perennials are left until late February or early March before being tidied up to make way for new growth. Thanks to the kitchen garden’s mild microclimate, many of the roses filling the beds and trained over rustic trelliswork continue to flower well into winter. “I never feel there’s any time pressure to prune the roses in autumn,” explains Tim. “If they’re still flowering and healthy, why chop them back?” Instead, the roses are fed and mulched with bonemeal and well-rotted horse manure in autumn, cut back or tied-in where necessary to protect them from wind damage, and the main bulk of the pruning work is done in February and March before spring growth begins.

Against the south-facing wall at the top of the double borders, a glazed hothouse, designed in the form of a jousting pavilion, was once heated by a furnace to coax exotics like pineapples, citrus and melons into fruit. Time and bad weather have taken their toll, but a restoration project is planned to return the pavilion to its former glory and reinstate the same plants that would have captivated visitors in the 19th century. Outside the pavilion, the two top beds are packed with an array of vegetables throughout the year, accompanied in summer by vibrant companion plantings of cornflowers, calendulas, and ‘Bishop’s Children’ dahlias.

Through winter the colour scheme is more muted, but the glaucous flags of leeks and textured foliage of kales and cabbages provide plenty of interest and are hardy enough to stand in the soil through even the worst weather. Any bare soil is sown with green

Below Sturdy Phlomis russeliana seedheads can always be relied on to stand intact in winter, enhanced by a frosting of white.

Above left Neat forms of egg-shaped yew topiary in the South Court. Above right An arched viaduct-style wall separates the Morris Garden from the South Court and the house. Right The walled garden enjoys a sheltered microclimate, so roses often keep flowering until late in the year.

manures, such as mustard or forage peas, from midOctober to November or covered with a thick mulch of well-rotted compost from the estate to suppress weeds and improve the soil.

Espalier apple trees enclose the path running perpendicular to the double border, permitting glimpses of vegetables on one side and a bed of soft fruit, including gooseberries and blueberries, on the other, but ultimately drawing the eye back to the wonderful ornamental planting at the centre of the kitchen garden. The shadier perimeter shrub borders hold plenty of winter interest too, with the violet berries of Callicarpa bodinieri, long catkins of Garrya elliptica and fragrant yellow sprays of Mahonia x media blooms. Tim is keen to build on this structure and bring elements of the woodland outside the walls into the garden, and in spring planted a border that had been left fallow after removal of bindweed with a selection of shrubs including fragrant winter-flowering Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ and an underplanting of shade-loving perennials.

An elegant archway through a high wall clothed with Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris leads into the Morris Garden, named after a character from Scott’s novel Rob Roy, whose statue kneels on the sunken central lawn. Beneath an impressive turret at the west corner of the walls, the towering jagged stems and enormous thistle flowerheads of Onopordum acanthium dominate a border of shrubs and roses, where they are allowed to selfseed. Tim is keen to encourage plants to spread where they naturally thrive and has discovered that the grass bank on the opposite side of the garden is full of harebells. “We’ve left pockets of grass here, and in the meadow in front of the house, to do their own thing and it’s amazing what has come through,” he explains. These areas of long grass are then mown after flowering to allow the wildflower seeds to spread.

The Morris Garden is separated from the South Court in front of the house by the open arches of a cloister-like arcade, planted with a long border of rich red Rosa ‘Deep Secret’. During winter, the dark forms of imposing yews provide valuable structure in both spaces, but the South Court’s yew topiary – tightly clipped as its growing season ends each August – lends it an air of formality that builds upon the precise pattern of paths and lawns. The central fountain, which was

Top Deep borders around the perimeter of the kitchen garden ensure it’s as decorative as it is productive. Above Frosted purple berries of Callicarpa bodinieri in the walled garden’s shrub borders. originally from Edinburgh’s medieval Mercat Cross, along with a collection of more of Scott’s stone artefacts adorning the walls, provide a fascinating insight into the breadth of his interests. In contrast, immediately beyond the walls, a beautiful bank clothed in trees, including many graceful birches, links all three enclosed gardens back to the countryside beyond.

Today the Abbotsford Trust cares for the house, gardens and 120 acres of Scott’s estate, making use of an extensive archive of his letters, writings and records to maintain and develop the garden in accordance with his ideas and tastes wherever possible. “We’re trying to recreate that historic landscape and at the same time keep the garden evolving so that there’s always something new,” says Tim, who will spend winter making plans for the growing season ahead. n

Abbotsford, Melrose, Roxburghshire TD6 9BQ. The house is open every day, 10am to 5pm, and admission includes access to the gardens. For up-to-date opening information, check online at scottsabbotsford.com. Tel +44 (0)1896 752043.

Yours for THE DAY

Despite its grandeur, classical statuary and William Kent landscaping, there is a quiet intimacy to Rousham that makes the visitor believe it is theirs alone, especially in the quiet still of an icy winter’s morning

WORDS JAMES ALEXANDER-SINCLAIR PHOTOGRAPHS ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT

A series of seven stone arches form the Praeneste Terrace at William Kent-designed Rousham near Bicester.

Before we start, I feel that I should come clean: I love Rousham, it is about ten minutes from my house and I try to visit a few times every year. I acknowledge its imperfections (sometimes I wish that I could take a chainsaw on my walks around the gardens!) but still love the atmosphere, the views and the general ramshackle romanticism of the place. It has no shop, no café and, until very recently, the only way to get an entry ticket was by putting coins into a re-purposed parking machine. Yet underneath this charmingly shambolic beginning lies a world-class garden.

Anybody who has studied garden design will know about Rousham: it is held up as an exemplary example of a classic 18th-century landscape. The background is well documented, beginning with General James Dormer whose lively career included being wounded at the Battle of Blenheim, captured at Brihuega (in Spain) and a spell as Governor of Kingston-upon-Hull. He retired to Rousham in the 1730s and had the excellent idea of employing the great William Kent to redesign the gardens.

Kent created a garden full of meaning and steeped in the Classics. You can admire the view from an alcove in the Praeneste Terrace (a series of pedimented arches based on a ruined Roman temple in Palestrina). Watch the water pour through the Vale of Venus. Admire statues of Apollo and the Dying Gladiator and follow the snaking stone-edged

rill as it rambles down the hill via a swimming pond that must have made for an extremely bracing dip.

Not everything here is ancient: there is a charming memorial plaque to a much-loved dog (“In front of this stone lie the remains of Ringwood, an otterhound of extraordinary sagacity”) and, apparently, a fair bit of Masonic symbolism. Both Kent and Dormer were Freemasons and there are reminders of this in some of the tiles and an open stone coffin hidden among the trees. This may also explain why the head gardener, John Macclary, managed to rack up the astonishing sum of £60 a year in tips for allowing people entry to the garden!

All in all, a pretty amazing place, but it was not always thus: when Charles Cottrell-Dormer took

Above left A circular pond in the walled garden is obscured by the pergola surrounding it; the monumental yew hedge can just be glimpsed above the wall. Top right The rill winds along a laurel-lined walk, and cuts through an octagonal plunge pool. Above Faded, frosted hydrangea blooms. over, at the ridiculously young age of 21, the place was in a pretty poor state. The walled garden was full of Christmas trees and nobody, apart from experts and academics, really knew what lay behind the gates. Charles runs the place unaided – “I have never had a manager or a secretary,” he says – while his wife Angela has racked up 46 years as a house guide and gardener. Between the two of them, helped enormously by the “brilliant” head gardener Ann Starling and her team, they have transformed the gardens into an international place of pilgrimage not only for fans of 18th-century landscape but also for walkers, locals and picnickers just wanting to eat a quiet cheese-and-pickle sandwich in idyllic circumstances. Some of them also use the grounds for assignations and illicit liaisons – but then there are lots of romantic views and secluded corners, so what do you expect?

You approach the house through a parkland that is populated by ancient trees and remarkably handsome Longhorn cattle and are delivered to a handsome honey-stoned stable yard. The first sight that will greet you here is not the garden laid out in all its splendour, but a very chatty flock of Belgian Barbu d’Uccle bantams whose ancestors were brought back from Switzerland 80 years ago in Charles’s mother’s spongebag.

Wander round the side of the house and you emerge on a broad flat lawn: there are no flower borders, just grass, a statue of a lion mauling a

horse (a striking but rather uncomfortable image) and a magnificent view. Far beneath you runs the River Cherwell and across the valley is an arched construction intended to catch the eye. From here there is no fixed route around the gardens: it is intended as a voyage of discovery where each visitor has a slightly different experience – apparently there are over a thousand ways to explore the garden.

Throughout the garden are scattered beautifully placed buildings and figures: you disappear into heavily wooded walks to emerge, blinking, into the light of another vista and another perfect statue. The planting is all very simple – laurels, yews and trees – and it is this simplicity that makes everything seem even more dramatic. This is gardening as theatre on a grand scale.

Nothing much changes at Rousham and that is exactly how Charles and Angela like it. As Angela puts it: “We wouldn’t dream of trying to change things – Kent was not an idiot! Everything matters here: every tree and every plant.” The biggest change has been the purchase of the meadow on the other side of the river. “One day we saw a For Sale sign, which was the first we had heard of it.” What followed was a frantic corralling of resources so that the field could be bought. Two hermaphroditic bronzes, a gold watch and an “Elizabethan navigational thingy from the Ashmolean” were sold and a slice of meadow saved for Rousham. A few things have been lost over the centuries and the woodland behind the eyecatcher on the hill is getting a bit shaggy. All this is detail: the important thing

Top Ancient espaliered apples and pears line an avenue, their branches picked out by the frost. Above More espaliered fruit is trained along the walls of the pigeon house, behind intricate, box-edged beds. is that the atmosphere remains. It is a garden with which almost everybody falls in love – except, of course, those who don’t really get the point: those who are more concerned about tea rooms and toilets than the spirit of the place.

Famously, children under 15 are not allowed in: although exceptions are often made. This is not because the Cottrell-Dormers are even slightly misopedic but because they understand that small children react noisily to wide open spaces and wooded glades and that this might disturb the

nymphs or interrupt the peace of other visitors. Away from the magnificence of the landscape there are other gardens. The formal lawn is edged with a mountainous yew hedge as vertiginous and cragged as Beachy Head. Behind it lies the walled garden, which bulges with fruit and vegetables in season. There are wide borders, hidden ponds and a very impressive collection of dahlias. A parterre surrounds the old pigeon house – a beautiful building that was constructed to provide an easy food source for the house. Pigeons laid eggs in the rows of brick nesting boxes and a rotating ladder made it easy for foraging scullions to gather the young birds (squabs) for the pot.

Rousham manages to be many things: it is the Cottrell-Dormer’s private garden, a public garden, a garden of extraordinary importance but, at the same time, it’s a place people feel belongs to them alone. As it says on their website ‘Bring a picnic, wear comfortable shoes and it is yours for the day.’ In these days of upheaval and a world that seems to spin faster every day, it is comforting to know that, whenever you choose to visit, be it in the height of the season or, as here, a freezing winter morning, Rousham will be a comfort and a thrill. It is best to leave the final words to Charles: “I do what I can and don’t worry about the things I cannot.” n

Rousham House & Garden, Rousham, Bicester OX25 4QX. See rousham.org for visitor information.

Top In the productive kitchen garden, chard and leeks withstand the cold conditions. Above The upper cascade with its statue of Venus in the garden’s so-called Vale of Venus. Left A blue gate leads out of the walled garden.

The box parterre at the front of the property was one of the first areas to be tackled in 2004.

Distorted MIRROR

Gardyne Castle in Angus was built in the 16th century, but over the centuries Stuart, Georgian and Arts & Crafts additions have created an eclectic effect. The challenge for designer Michael Innes has been to make a garden to reflect the castle’s many faces

Removed from the warming currents of the Gulf Stream that pass the west of the country, in winter the east of Scotland receives the full effect of cold weather from the north and east. In Angus, just outside Forfar and only seven miles from the coast, Gardyne Castle is no exception.

Owner William Gray Muir ruefully recalls how he and his wife Camilla had hoped for an English style of country garden when they bought the property in 2003. “We had a young family and wanted plenty of space and a garden we could build over time. We were incredibly lucky to be able to do that relatively early on in our married lives,” he says.

Back then, as William recalls, Gardyne was surrounded by “a sea of gravel and an unsightly four-car garage at the back where we’ve now got our chickens”. The Category A listed building – the equivalent of Grade I in England – is important because of its singularity. Much of the property takes its appearance from the 16th century. Being a classic Scottish tower house, it was built ostensibly for defence but, in truth, as with many homes of this ilk, it was furnished for the comfort and enjoyment of the Gardyne family of Leys and later the Lyells. An armorial stone dating from 1568 declares allegiance to James VI, yet this was never a wealthy property. Extended in the 18th century and again in 1910, it escaped wholesale renovation that would have put it into a single architectural style, and therein lies its interest. Part Stuart, part Georgian, part Arts & Crafts, with no particular symmetry or axis, the house has borne down on what the Gray Muirs could plan for the garden.

There is a precedent for notable gardens in this part of the world: both Pitmuies and Glamis are nearby. The Gray Muirs enlisted Michael Innes, who has also worked on Dumfries House, to help them makes sense of the property. “I was very inspired by Adam Nicolson’s attitude to Sissinghurst and felt that it should be a small country house like that,”

Clockwise from above

Gardyne Castle is a 16th-century tower house; a knot garden, formerly a drive, comes into its own in winter; clipped topiary is part of the Scottish design ethic; the property is a mixture of architectural styles; the Doocot Garden is the most recent aspect to be completed.

Top In winter, topiary is essential for interest. Centre The smart greenhouse is accessed by a long path between herbaceous borders. Bottom The surrounding woodland is a haven for wildlife and covered with bluebells come spring. says William. “We produced a formal masterplan 17 years ago, and we’ve been gradually working our way towards it ever since.”

Historically, tower houses would always have had working buildings and productive spaces around them, and the Gray Muirs thought to reference that by putting denser planting close to the building. “The difficult thing is that a lot of the attractive, more formal styles of gardening rely on symmetry, but we didn’t have that because the house is so eclectic in its architecture. We felt each of the main aspects of the garden had to reflect the building in that aspect but equally be drawn together in a clear palette of materials,” he explains.

“We also came to Michael effectively wanting a romantic English garden,” says William. “He would rein me in a bit because these things won’t always grow in our climate. He has a tremendous sense of what will work and what won’t.” Given the shortness of the season and the cold winds in this part of North East Scotland, shelter was critical to the design. So too, was permanent structure and detail from hedging and topiary. Now, in winter, all these elements come into their own. Michael Innes remembers how the front garden was the first task to be tackled, in 2004. “At that time the gravel drive came in at this point. We wanted this part of the garden to be more formal, so we put in a box parterre,” he recalls. “We pulled everything apart and put it all together again.” It was quite a job. The area had been a drive for a century, and was both compacted and sloping. Now levelled and established, this section provides interest when the rest of the garden is quiet. Picked out by frost in that most familiar and reassuring way, with every detail revealed, it is a criss-cross of neat forms, some circular, some angular, which are an overture to views of the lovely landscape beyond the garden gates.

The joy of owning a property in which you intend to live for the duration is having time do things properly, as and when funds allow. The next task on the master plan was to put in a terrace with sheltering pleached limes and a greenhouse with a long herbaceous border leading up to it. In spring and summer the border comes alive with a mix of peonies and bulbs, as well as shrub roses in creams and whites: ‘Champagne Moment’, ‘Winchester Cathedral’, ‘Cream Abundance’ and ‘Iceberg’ all feature here and, grown close to the house, manage to withstand the winter winds. There is also an abundance of cold-tolerant ‘Folgate’ lavender.

In 2016, the Gray Muirs embarked on the next stage of their plan: the Doocot Garden. The sloping site was levelled, so there are now two elevations linked by steps and a rill. In one far corner, a prominent dovecote, or doocot if you’re Scottish, reflects the circular forms of the towers of the house – “so much interest happens at the roofline here,” William explains. “They wanted to improve the area but keep the functionality, so the doocot is also a storage shed,” adds Michael. There are chickens here, and also obelisks of yew, which make vertical accent points. Under the care of gardeners Gary Whitton and Arthur Smith, white flowers prevail among the clipped forms and mown lawns. And there are future plans to site a swimming pool here. The castle sits within 100 acres of grounds and, as with all good gardens, the design relaxes away from the 20 or so gardened acres close to the house. In the woods, where red squirrels, pine martens, deer and brown hares abound, William and Camilla

Above left Yew pyramids in the Doocot Garden are vertical accent points. Top right Each aspect of the garden reflects a particular aspect of the eclectic house. Above right A sheltered terrace where the Gray Muirs take their lunch. have tried to create a fairly naturalistic garden with plantings of ferns, dicentra and polemoniums.

This year’s project has been to grow thousands of wildflower plugs from seed for a meadow beyond the house. Future plans include developing the walled garden further. “Hopefully we will be able to start in the next few years. It’s about breaking it down into more interesting spaces and we’re very keen to produce a sort of prairie in half of it,” says William. “Because we’ve done it in bite-sized chunks, individually they’ve been expensive and challenging, but we’ve been able to give them a lot of attention and spend what we were able to at the time to make sure they were as good as they could be. It gives me great pleasure that people will look at it and assume it’s all been there for 50 or 100 years.” n

Gardyne Castle, Forfar DD8 2SQ. Gardyne Castle opens to the public through Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. Check scotlandsgardens.org for details.

DRAWING The Line

Designer George Carter has applied his artistic sensibility to his Norfolk garden at Silverstone Farm, where a baroque structure creates enclosures, focal points and vistas, offering up a soothing geometry at its finest in winter

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS ANNIE GREEN-ARMYTAGE

From the house, an obelisk marks the end of a vista through a hornbeam hedge and neat, frosted lawns.

In the heart of the Norfolk countryside, among gently undulating expanses of wide open fields and stands of mature woodland sits an unlikely fusion of farm and formality. This is the home of renowned garden designer and historian, George Carter.

To those who know his work, his garden will come as no surprise, steeped as it is in the baroque style of the Dutch and Italian gardens of the 17th century. “It’s the absolute antidote to the English picturesque aesthetic, to the landscape gardens of Capability Brown and Repton,” he explains with a smile. “I’m not rejecting it, but I try to think myself back into looking at the landscape without that picturesque lens.”

For Silverstone Farm, this has entailed creating structure, initially in the form of walls and piers to key the house into the landscape, and subsequently through the planting and gradual maturing of hedges and topiary, which have created a series of enclosures, focal points and vistas. Although the farm is solitary in the landscape, the vistas are controlled to stay more or less within the bounds of the garden rather than extending into the countryside. “Dutch gardens have a similar topography,” says George. “They’re flattish and pretty inward-looking. I enjoy that. And like this plot, which is just two acres including the buildings, they are modest-sized gardens for the baroque style – not endlessly rolled out like Versailles.”

George moved here in 1990, having worked for ten years in exhibition and garden design, racking up several Chelsea gold medals along the way. He remembers the design process for his own garden as relatively clear-cut – “I was seeing it with fresh eyes” – and the bones of the structure were more or less complete before he moved in.

Initially, the heavy clay soil was so badly waterlogged in some areas that it was necessary to install drainage. This has informed his choice of planting, using the more tolerant hornbeam rather than beech which prefers well-drained soil. Some of the Mediterranean plants have also been surprisingly resilient to the conditions: “You’d think plants like phillyrea and rhamnus would hate sitting in the wet, but they don’t seem to mind,” he notes.

A series of allées and pathways on a rectilinear grid radiate out from the two main structures: the

Above A painted wooden tub contains the evergreen shrub Aucuba japonica, with decorative flint walls and a grey-painted, scrollsided bench behind.

house and the barn complex. These walkways are bounded by clipped hedges and focal plants in a mix of species that remain in harmony with the 17th-century aesthetic. “I wanted to use the sort of plant palette that might have been around then, although I have broadened it a bit,” he says. “It’s very simple planting, nothing too exotic: Mediterranean evergreens, native yew, box, privet and holly, plus hornbeam, oak and lime.” The effect of the grid of enclosed pathways is at once revealing and concealing: vistas open up in unexpected places, while the hedging creates varying degrees of enigma depending on the season, allowing the visitor to discover different “It’s the absolute antidote garden spaces one by one. At the back of the house the sea of to the English picturesque gravel that had accommodated farm machinery has been transformed aesthetic. I try to look at into a herb garden. Flanking this are the landscape without that what look like classical pavilions (they are actually garden sheds), and picturesque lens” alongside these is the grandly named Temple of Convenience, aka the outside toilet. It is enclosed in what at first glance appears to be rusticated stonework, revealing itself, on closer inspection, to be marine ply. This is typical, not only of George’s playful sense of humour, but also of his skill as a master of illusion. Throughout the garden his experience as a museum and exhibition designer shines through: seemingly substantial objects are ingeniously fashioned from simple materials such as waterproof plywood and galvanised steel. At the far end of the garden, an intriguing mix of flint grotto, formal topiary, and rough grassland blur into the surrounding woodland. This juxtaposition of wild and formal is another key aspect of the garden at Silverstone Farm, wrapped around as it is by the rural landscape. “You need some kind of counterpoint to formality,” maintains George. He has carried this with him since his days as an art student, when, as his final MA piece, he created an installation that evoked a formal garden, hidden away in the centre of untouched woodland. “It was a nightmare to do, because there was no access, and I didn’t have any money to get the equipment in,” he remembers, laughing. “But I still think the best formal gardens have that association with some kind of wilderness at some point.”

Above Containers of clipped Phillyrea latifolia standards in the Barn Gardens outside their icy-roofed namesake. Right A classical urn on a plinth forms a focal point in the Green Theatre. Below Silverstone Farm on a crisp winter morning, seen from across the main lawn. Left Garden designer and owner of Silverstone Farm, George Carter.

Top The Green Theatre resembles a grassy auditorium, with niches for urns and box ball ‘footlights’. Above An ornate fountain next to the house is surrounded by various topiary forms. Left A decorative wooden gate between hornbeam hedges.

“With a garden like this one, the way light falls on it does give pleasure. It changes so much throughout the day”

In contrast, he has also created a Green Theatre in a tribute to the Italian baroque tradition of teatro di verzura. Its grassy auditorium fronts a ‘stage’ comprising five arches that contain simple urns on stone plinths, complete with box ball ‘footlights’. Returning firmly to the English agricultural aesthetic, a series of old barns have more recently been allocated their own gardens. “I’ve kept it simple there,” says George. “Anything too elaborate would look a bit ridiculous.” The Barn Gardens are sheltered and more or less south-facing, and here Mediterranean plants thrive: rosemary, bay, Phillyrea latifolia, germander (Teucrium fruticans), and even mature orange trees, although these are in pots. The magnificent, if slightly irascible, peacock, Birdie, also enjoys the sunny aspect, particularly during the winter months. The oranges have been with George since 1972 and are overwintered in one of the buildings themselves. The most recent addition is the starkly beautiful canal adjoining the last barn, another nod to the Dutch influence on baroque style. “The art critic Brian Sewell once referred to William III as ‘a clod-hopping Roi Soleil’,” George says, smiling. “There is that element to it – a certain sort of simplicity and an awareness of its place in the rustic landscape. You might think that baroque was highly unsuitable for a Norfolk farmhouse, but I think it works as long as the detailing is relatively simple.” At the far end of the garden an allée of young limes forms a vista onto a stone obelisk. Pragmatically, George has substituted the red-twigged lime (Tilia platyphyllos ‘Rubra’) for the more authentic Dutch lime (Tilia x europaea), since it doesn’t sucker so much at the base. It also adds a splash of colour over winter, with its tracery of young growth glowing red in the low sun. The effect of the light plays an important part in his own enjoyment of the space. “With a garden like this one, the way light falls on it does give pleasure. It changes so much throughout the

BOUNDS of Possibility

George Carter’s advice on choosing and growing plants for formal hedging and topiary

Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) is the plant that I have used most for hedging. This is partly because of its historic use in the 17th century and partly because of how it adapts to wet and dry conditions. Plant 60-90cm tall plants closely, at 30-40cm to make them grow up rather than out. Hornbeam is a very fast grower; keep it thin with vigorous pruning. It partially retains its brown foliage in winter and has a very dense network of twigs when clipped, so it maintains good winter structure. For an evergreen hedge, use yew (Taxus baccata). It’s not at all slow growing and needs only one annual clip. Other evergreen options include Rhamnus alaternus, which needs very good drainage, and Phillyrea latifolia, which seems tolerant of quite wet ground.

I find the best plants to use for topiary are: holly (Ilex sp.), the Portuguese laurel (Prunus lusitanica), hawthorn (Crataegus sp.), box (Buxus sempervirens), privet (Ligustrum vulgare) and bay (Laurus nobilis).

day, and especially in Above left Sharp lines the sunlight – the deep in the Pool Garden, with shadows reveal form, the twiggy outlines of which makes it more the lime allée behind it. Top right The glossy sculptural.” evergreen leaves of

George has a busy bay, Laurus nobilis. career as a garden Above right Birdie, designer, writer, lecturer George’s colourful peacock, enjoys the and historian, so he has run of the garden. enlisted the part-time help of a gardener and a maker/maintainer to keep the garden in good shape. Nevertheless, he still tries to get out there himself at least one day each weekend. Does he sit and contemplate or does he get to work? He laughs. “There are plenty of seats out there but I never sit down unless I have visitors,” he admits. “I tend to tidy compulsively, because the aesthetic requires tidiness. And it’s never tidy enough!” Even so, he wouldn’t have it any other way, valuing the simplicity of the garden’s wonderful geometric forms: “The whole idea of formal gardens is that they’re calming,” he says. “I find being out in this garden very soothing.” n

Flying COLOURS

Our special section celebrating colour showcases exemplary colour-themed planting at some of Britain’s most iconic gardens

IMAGES NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/ANDREW BUTLER/NICK TURNER; DIANNA JAZWINSKI 52 Sissinghurst

At this seminal National Trust garden, Vita Sackville-West’s White Garden continues to inspire visitors.

59 Parham House

Recently replanted, the glowing, Gold Border at Parham House in West Sussex is a 24-carat delight.

65 Hidcote Manor

A fi ery summer spectacle, Lawrence Johnston’s Red Borders at Hidcote, truly make the most of this colour.

71 Borde Hill

Sophie Walker’s design for the Round Dell is a masterclass in how best to use lush, green foliage plants.

Rosa ‘Mulliganii’ clothes the White Garden’s central arbour in a dreamy froth of fl owers, while throngs of scented lilies line the path.

White Magic

Mark Lane explores Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West’s iconic Sissinghurst and shows how gardeners can successfully use ideas from the famous White Garden

At Sissinghurst, Renaissance towers cast shadows across one of the most iconic gardens in England, just as they have for the past 500 years. Although the gardens here are a modern concept, in terms of age, the surrounding landscape has changed very little. Thousands visit each year, yet it is still possible to find a quiet place to sit and reflect on a history that has never been lost.

Sissinghurst was home to Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson from the 1930s. The estate is vast at 450 acres, but the gardens cover a manageable five, and it is easy to imagine exploring its agreeable spaces in pyjamas. It has a soft, relaxed feel, with scent in the air and bees buzzing in every direction.

A series of garden rooms make the space feel much larger, while an axial design and crossing linear paths invite the visitor to wander its many parts. Although the gardens are large, the borders within the rooms are manageable and will fit into most outdoor spaces. Nicolson was the master planner, while Sackville-West was the plantswoman. A perfect match for a perfect family garden.

To see the garden from above is a magical thing, despite the 78 steps up to the top of the tower, but it’s from this vantage point that the different spaces and shapes become apparent. The top courtyard, with its perfect lawn and purple border, lead to the lower courtyard or Tower Lawn. Different planting schemes keep it evolving, while spaces such as the White Garden, Rose Garden, Rondel, Lime Walk, Nuttery, Azalea Bank, Moat Walk, Yew Walk, Meadow and Orchard form some of the main features. Outside, in the far south-east corner, are the lakes, while to the north-west is the Vegetable Garden. As is the case in many of the great English gardens, it is possible to get up close to the plants here. Vibrant shades of orange and lime are seen in the Cottage Garden with tulips, wallflowers and euphorbias. Hazel ‘benders’ support rose bushes in the Rose Garden, while climbers and ramblers scramble over the red brick walls, filling the space with their heady scent.

Above The Rose Garden in June, its roses trained over dome-shaped supports made of hazel. Below The Cottage Garden’s colourful mix of tulips, wallflowers and zingy euphorbias.

Sissinghurst is most famous for its White Garden; here, tulips, stachys and eremurus fill beds in front of its recognisable tower.

Above At first glance, it’s a sea of white, but Vita’s White Garden is a clever combination of form, texture and shapes, from both flowers and foliage.

The White Garden

This garden, which peaks in early summer, is widely imitated. A careful balance of green, silver and white plants produces one of Sissinghurst’s most striking gardens. There is a freshness and lightness produced by a mix of bulbs, annuals, biennials, rhizomatous plants, herbaceous perennials, shrubs and climbers, as well as neatly trimmed hedges of box and yew.

To get a feel for its shape and structure, a winter visit is best. The maze-like patterns of box-edged borders and brick-and-slab pathways will shimmer with a sprinkling of frost. In terms of the planting, the borders’ composition changes, but the use of just one colour is timeless, elegant, simple and pure. The textures, shapes and form of the plants result in a harmonious sea of white froth. It is difficult to maintain such a freshness, since white very quickly fades and can look unsightly when it turns a tatty brown, which is why the White Garden has to be maintained to such a high level. Here, as in other areas of the garden, Vita liked vertical accents, such as delphiniums, lilies, foxgloves and veronicastrum to shoot up through mounds of textural plants.

Vita always took into account her plants’ final size, height and form. Layers of planting ensure a continuous flowering, with groundcover and small plants at the front and taller plants at the back and middle of the borders. The borders are deep, but

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1 Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’ sets the tone with its silvergrey foliage. 2 Year-on-year, Rosa ‘Mulliganii’ smothers the arbour’s metal canopy. 3 Chamaenerion angustifolium ‘Album’ with tall, white, tapering spires 4 Gillenia trifoliata produces masses of delicate, star-shaped fl owers. 5 Lychnis coronaria ‘Alba’, with single white fl owers on top of well-branched stems. 6 Umbels of delicate Ammi majus. 7 Galega o cinalis ‘Alba’, with pinnate foliage and elegant spikes of white pea-like fl owers.

Below The silvery foliage this means plants can be of felt-leaved Stachys seen from di erent angles. byzantina and bristly Eryngium giganteum are Mounds of various heights the perfect foil for an are formed, sometimes in a array of white fl owers. haze of white, sometimes in solid blocks.

Foliage is important in any garden, as a restful backdrop to fl owers, as a foil to fl ower colours and to help unite a planting scheme. In the White Garden, foliage colour, shape and texture are used to great e ect. It is also important to remember that white comes in many shades, from pure linen-white to creamier hues, and what is planted around these di erent shades will either work and make the white ‘pop’ or might ‘muddy’ the desired look. For example, fresh lime-green and silver-leaved plants look incredible next to pure white.

There is so much inspiration to be found in the White Garden. To transpose ideas to your own garden, focus on a single border or pick out key plants that will work together, contrast with each other and provide lasting interest. Mimic the use of verticals popping through mounds and think about height, either by planting a climber, a tree or a large shrub. Silvery-white plants such as Artemisia absinthium or Stachys byzantina, Cobaea scandens f. alba climbing through a small tree or up an obelisk, or architectural plants like Eryngium giganteum or Crambe cordifolia work well with white roses, delphiniums and love-in-a-mist. Extend the seasons by planting white crocuses, tulips, da odils, galtonia and snowdrops for spring and Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ or Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’ for autumn and winter interest.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Biddenden Road, Cranbrook, Kent TN17 2AB. Tel: +44 (0)1580 710700. The gardens are open year round. For details and opening hours visit nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst

Creating a WHITE GARDEN

Apply this elegant theme to your own garden, using Sissinghurst as a starting point

START AS YOU MEAN TO GO ON

Make sure spring is taken care of by planting tulips – the perfect bulb to follow on from a riot of daffodils. The pure-white, lily-flowered heads of Tulipa ‘White Triumphator’ add grace and elegance. Mix them up with single, late Tulipa ‘Maureen’, seen at the centre of this image, and Lunaria annua var. albiflora, for a fresh start to your White Garden.

SELECT A SHOWSTOPPER

Eryngium giganteum is a White Garden essential, its spiky bracts like an Elizabethan neck ruff surrounding a central cone. It’s a great silver-grey plant to add texture and a vertical statement. Likewise, Stachys byzantina is also essential, this time for furry silver-grey mounds at the front of borders.

PRAIRIE STYLE

For a prairie-style White Garden, introduce grasses such as Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ with cream and green blades and Pennisetum villosum with fluffy white flowers for an elegant, flowing scheme.

REACH UP

The towering, creamywhite, densely packed flower spikes of lupins are perfect for adding the vertical accent that Vita Sackville-West loved and applied so well throughout the gardens at Sissinghurst.

WHITE GARDENS IN MINIATURE

If you’re short on space, make a white garden in pots or with a living wall. Choose from: Libertia chilensis; Campanula ‘Weisse Clips’; Luzula nivea; Vinca minor f. alba ‘Gertrude Jekyll’; Brunnera macrophylla ‘Betty Bowring’; Tiarella ‘Spring Symphony’ (above); Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’; and Thymus ‘Snowdrift’. n

Renovating a border on Parham’s scale is a big job that, done well, will yield excellent results and move a garden forward.

The Art of Alchemy

The renovation of the Gold Border at Parham in Sussex has led to a brilliant transformation, with lots of lessons for gardeners reinvigorating their own borders

WORDS MAX CRISFIELD PHOTOGRAPHS DIANNA JAZWINSKI

Change is the lifeblood of a garden. From the micro to the macro, it is forever in flux. Plants self-seed, run, colonise. They senesce, retreat, die. The weather changes on a sixpence, and the seasons provide an overarching framework of alteration. We may wish otherwise, but gardens do not remain static. And when we embrace change and the opportunities it affords, that’s when gardens take our breath away.

“Gardens change; they develop, decay and are altered,” says Lady Emma Barnard of Parham House and Garden in West Sussex. “Parham’s garden walls date from the 18th century, but it is possible that the land had been cultivated for hundreds of years before then. Our only ‘rule’ is to work with, not against, this ancient place, accepting and preserving its spirit.” It’s in the spirit of change that over the past few years Parham’s garden team have redesigned and revitalised the borders of its four-acre walled garden, starting with the iconic Blue Border in 2017, and culminating with the Gold Border.

Colour theming has advantages. First, it’s a good way to discipline planting: by restricting your colour palette, your design will be more tonally balanced and cohesive. There is an inherent elegance and sophistication when working with analogous colour tones, since nothing is too jarring. You can easily create different moods: blues will be soothing and tranquil; conversely, reds will be vibrant and bold.

But be warned: a white border rapidly becomes a brown border without regular attention! There are many reasons to change a border.

Over time, they lose their identity. Certain plants begin to dominate, others retreat.

Gaps appear. And no matter how judicious the editing, sometimes they won’t stick to the script. Then there are weeds. Unlike a vegetable plot, which is regularly cultivated, a border is often merely titivated. The result is that pernicious perennial weeds can take up residence. And, of course, there’s taste – always a provocative catalyst for change. Styles come and go, and gardens are as susceptible to the caprice of fashion as anything else. Trends catapult new plants and planting styles into the

Above Illuminated by the rising sun, verbascum, achillea and golden oats, Stipa gigantea. Below Verbascum nigrum grows to 1m.

spotlight and relegate Top left Burnished others to history. Helenium ‘Rauchtopas’. Finally, there’s simply the desire to acquire a Top middle Feverfew, Tanacetum parthenium. Top right Kniphofia adds new portfolio of plants fiery accent points. and to do something Left Cephalaria gigantea different – take risks, and Achillea ‘Terracotta’. push the envelope.

The impetus for the renovation of Parham’s Gold Border was a combination of all these factors. It was originally designed to echo the muted tones of the tiles on the dovecote roof. So, amid the golds, there were pewters and terracottas, silvers and purples. Over time, the gold receded. Bindweed was becoming entrenched. With the introduction of new plants, there was a chance to extend the season of interest and ensure it sang right across the season. Finally, and most seductively, it afforded a golden opportunity to innovate, to think outside the box.

The other Parham borders had been laid out in an orthodox manner, with large blocks or drifts of plants set out and repeated with an established ratio of heights – back, middle, front – the whole thing knitting together like a patchwork quilt. For the Gold Border, the approach was different. Head gardener at the time, Tom Brown, didn’t want a yellow version of the Blue Border. He was seeking something more ephemeral, wilder and more contemporary. One option was meadow planting, with smaller plant communities intermingling in a sort of pointillist sea. But this would be a dramatic deviation from the ‘Parham style’. The best gardens

have distinct aesthetic Top left Mango-coloured values and stylistic Echinacea ‘Big Kahuna’. properties, and Parham Top right Stalwart Rudbeckia fulgida var. is no different. It sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’. has an overarching Middle Helenium romanticism and ‘Riverton Beauty’. naturalistic sensibility Bottom left Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare. contained within a very Bottom right Ratibida English walled garden columnifera. framework. So what they came up with was a compromise: a hybrid between traditional herbaceous border planting and a modern meadow-style mix.

To help assemble the plant wish list, the team turned to eminent plantswoman Marina Christopher, who had recently taught a masterclass at Parham. Marina, renowned for her knowledge of plant ecology and interest in more esoteric prairie and meadow plantings, came up with an exciting list of cultivars. These introductions would lend a certain wildness and expand the garden’s already enviable portfolio of herbaceous plants.

Think gold, think daisies: rudbeckias and echinaceas, helianthus and heleniums. These plants had already proved successful throughout the garden and the team knew they could be relied on to anchor the scheme, around which there would be lots of room for experimentation. The first move was to lay out large drifts of selected Asteraceae cultivars, such as Echinacea ‘Aloha’ and ‘Big Kahuna’; Helenium ‘Riverton Beauty’ and ‘Rauchtopas’; and Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ and Rudbeckia occidentalis ‘Green Wizard’. These were augmented by similar drifts of crocosmia, solidago and other stalwarts. Everything was moved from 9cm pots into soil that wasn’t improved with compost or fertiliser.

Among these islands, they dotted grasses and herbaceous plants, all chosen to add painterly daubs of colour and texture in a naturalistic, meadowlike matrix. This acted as a more impressionistic counterpoint to the solidity of the large drifts. With any border, particularly one on this scale, you need to think not only about the big picture, but also the individual accent points. Former senior gardener Henry Macaulay likens it to a choir, “where every so often someone needs to step forward and take a solo; there are backing singers and there are divas. Some act as a foil, others provide the fireworks.”

The golden pyrotechnics came courtesy of some real showstoppers. The decidedly hirsute Helianthus salicifolius, with its feathery green foliage; the statuesque umbellifer Angelica archangelica; the tall prairie aristocrats Silphium laciniatum and S. mohrii (both Marina’s selections); and the suitably named Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’, which arches and falls like a roman candle, glittering with bright yellow sparks from top to toe. Less lofty, but still with the Midas touch, is Gladiolus ‘Sylvia’, a

Going for GOLD

Marina Christopher’s top five plants for gold borders

Coreopsis tripteris has strong sturdy stems and deep green foliage that is topped by hundreds of small golden daisies in August and September.

Ratibida pinnata flowers earlier on long grey-green stems, looking like a Mexican hat with slender lemon reflexed petals and a prominent brown cone.

Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’

has branched flower stems and masses of yellow-tipped, bronzeorange daisies deepening to reddish-orange: the very epitome of autumn glory.

Helianthus giganteus ‘Sheila’s

Sunshine’ is a giant with small, pale lemon sunflowers set on towering stems reaching 3m or more. Unlike other sunflowers, these blooms are angled so they look directly at you!

Silphium laciniatum has deeply pinnate rough foliage, resembling that of a strange fern rather than a herbaceous plant. It grows to 3.5m with a top mop of large, bright, golden-yellow daisies.

relatively short form Left Achillea ‘Gold Plate’ whose golden-yellow and A. ‘Terracotta’. flowers sport carmine- Above middle A quirky touch, Gladiolus ‘Sylvia’.flecked throats. Plus, Above right Euphorbias of course, the golden add a splash of greenish haze of the grasses, yellow to the mix. Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’ and ‘Heidebraut’, Milium effusum ‘Aureum’ and Carex elata ‘Aurea’.

But not all that glitters is gold. The scheme is peppered with oranges (Geum ‘Prinses Juliana’ and Cosmos sulphureus ‘Polidor’); pale yellows (Digitalis lutea, Sisyrinchium striatum and Stokesia laevis ‘Mary Gregory’); and a range of browns, bronzes and caramel tones – from Baptisia ‘Brownie Points’, with its glaucous foliage and amber flowers, to the mercurial Achillea ‘Terracotta’. There are even plums and reds (Astrantia ‘Hadspen Blood’, Papaver orientale ‘Patty’s Plum’ and Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Ruby Port’) in the mix, providing subtle signposts for the wandering eye.

As with all borders, the proof of its success still lies ahead as it matures. To retain its inherent ‘goldness’, it must be carefully edited and maintained. Already, some of the more vigorous wanderers, bronze fennel, angelica and sisyrinchium in particular, have had to be chased back assiduously. But at the end of the day a border is mutable, and its character will continue to be formed, either through skilful modulation, or via those random associations that take place by happenstance. There has recently been a changing of the gardening guard at Parham. With a new team in place – head gardener Andrew Humphris and six other gardeners, including his wife Jo – and new plans afoot, one thing is for certain, this delightful Sussex garden and its stunning borders will continue to develop. And that is something to be celebrated. n

Parham House & Gardens, Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 4HS. parhaminsussex.co.uk

Scarlet Fever

Mark Lane visits Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire to admire Lawrence Johnston’s well-known garden of rooms and its ever-popular, much emulated Red Borders

Hidcote Manor’s iconic and widely copied Red Borders have been a key part of this Cotswold garden since its creation. T he home of the reserved plantsman and horticulturist Major Lawrence Johnston from 1907, Hidcote remains an influential English garden, taking its inspiration from France and Italy and featuring collections of rare plants and trees from around the world. Formal in design and based on architectural principles, with contrived views and an insular approach, there is an overall gentleness to the planting here, and Hidcote continues to be an inspiration for gardeners worldwide.

Set in the inhospitable conditions of the north Cotswolds, Hidcote Manor (then a farm) and the hamlet of Hidcote Bartrim were purchased in 1907 by the twicemarried-and-widowed Gertrude Winthrop for her and her son, Lawrence Johnston, when he was 36 years of age. The estate came with around 300 acres and although there was originally just one acre of garden, over 40 years Johnston expanded it to ten. Over the years he travelled across Europe and further afield on plant-hunting expeditions, bringing home tender plants he wanted to grow in his garden.

To create the right conditions, and form different microclimates within the garden, Johnston added walls, structures, trees and 4.5 miles of hedging. Beech, hornbeam, yew, holly and box were laid out to create a central pathway that passes through a series of garden rooms, which were then planted comprehensively. Topiarised shrubs and trees were used to create living art forms, and the defined rooms took on different styles and colours of planting. The first area to be developed, between 1907 and 1914, was just south of the Manor, and it was reworked to form the Old Garden, the White Garden, the Fuchsia Garden, the Bathing Pool Garden and the Red Borders. The area to the west became the Stream Garden, the Pillar Garden, The Long Walk, the Theatre Lawn and the Wilderness.

In the early 20th century, the prevailing appetite was for distinct areas of planting within a garden, such as herbaceous borders, a shrubbery or a rose garden. Johnston disregarded these rules, instead creating schemes with mixed planting within his rooms. He wanted his garden to become a refuge from the neighbouring Cotswolds environment and the world at large. Plants are centrestage, almost theatrical, and successional planting helps keep the borders looking good for months on end. These plants would never be found growing together in the wild, but with a creative mind, an aesthetic eye and an understanding of how the plants grew, Johnston produced one of the most influential 20th-century gardens in Britain.

Above Johnston’s sure eye for design is evident in the bold and striking Pillar Garden, with its tall and elegant yews. Below Topiary doves in the formal space of the White Garden.

In the Red Borders, purple-leaved shrubs and spiky phormiums provide a foil for crimson roses and scarlet salvias.

The Red Borders

These long double borders link the Old Garden and White Garden with the Stilt Garden, and are enclosed by a dry stone wall with a tall Taxus baccata hedge above it to the north, and open trellis to the south. A neatly mown strip of lawn divides the space in two, with borders that almost mirror each other on either side. A mixture of shades of red, orange, purple and blue create an eye-catching display that’s reinvented every year with herbaceous perennials, tender perennials, annuals and bulbs, while purple- and brown-coloured leaves and fl owers from permanent shrubs add structure to an energising scheme.

Buddleja davidii ‘Black Knight’ with its dense spikes of tiny, fragrant, dark purple fl owers; the jagged red foliage of Phormium tenax; the broad, deep-purple leaves of Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’; the dark purple-red foliage of Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea; the dissected purple-black foliage of Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla; arching stems with red fl owers of Cestrum elegans; and the magnifi cent, dark-purple-red leaves of Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ that turn scarlet in autumn, all add contrast and are the perfect backdrop to the red- and orange-fl owering plants. There is a slow rhythm to these borders with green grasses, such as Stipa gigantea, Miscanthus sinensis and cortaderia,

adding another layer and further texture. These Red Borders are testament to Johnston’s aesthetic eye and horticultural knowledge.

With planting changing year-on-year, it’s di cult to produce an everlasting snapshot of the borders, but this constant change keeps them interesting. Flower colours of red, pink, purple and blue come mainly from pigments called anthocyanins, so it makes sense for purple and blue fl owering plants to be planted alongside red ones in the Red Borders. Orange is used to great e ect to o set the red.

A jamboree of red-fl owering plants is used in large groups to fi ll the spaces between the permanent planting, starting with scarlet-red and orange tulips

Above It’s the dark purple tones of the Red Borders’ supporting shrubs that help its vibrant red blooms stand out so well.

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1 An ornamental cherry makes an e ective purple backdrop. Consider Prunus x cistena. 2 Buddleja ‘Black Knight’ adds depth with its deep purple fl owers. 3 A spiky explosion of foliage from Phormium tenax. 4 Not often considered as a border shrub, Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea supplies the perfect maroon here. 5 Scarlet roses add impactful fl owers. 6 Crimson-fl ushed, paddle-like leaves of Ensete ventricosum. 7 Deep purple leaves of maple. In smaller spaces, try Japanese maples, Acer palmatum.

in the spring, followed by Salvia elegans and Salvia microphylla, Hemerocallis ‘Sta ord’, Lobelia cardinalis ‘Queen Victoria’, Rheum palmatum ‘Atrosanguineum’, Crocosmia ‘Hellfi re’ with large crimson fl owers and a selection of dahlias, such as Dahlia ‘Bishop of Auckland’ with velvetyred blooms, rich red Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llanda ’, scarlet double Dahlia ‘Grenadier’, and Dahlia ‘Nuit d’Eté’ with its double, narrow, pointed red-purple petals. Later in the summer large red fl owers are produced on Canna ‘Red King Humbert’. Orange is introduced with hemerocallis, kniphofi a and the annual Tithonia rotundifolia, or Mexican sunfl ower, which has velvety, rich-orange fl owers and is useful for adding height within the border.

To recreate a Red Border of your own, consider permanent structural plants fi rst, such as buddleja and sambucus. Many plants used at Hidcote are tender, but can be grown from seed or cuttings, which is a great way to bulk-up your plants. Start with taller plants towards the back, with slightly shorter transparent plants towards the middle and front, such as Verbena bonariensis or Stipa gigantea.

Play with shades of red and texture and plant in groups, rather than as individual specimens, for impact. Every so often add some orange. Tithonia rotundifolia is a great annual since it doesn’t take up much room: it grows upwards and then becomes multi-stemmed, each stem topped with eye-popping orange daisy-like fl owers.

Hidcote Manor Garden, Hidcote Bartrim, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire GL55 6LR. Tel: +44 (0)1386 438333. The garden’s main season for opening is usually between March to October, plus weekends during November and December. Check opening times at nationaltrust.org.uk/hidcote

Recreating a RED BORDER

Hidcote’s borders are grand in scale, but these plants are suitable for smaller gardens

BURNING BRILLIANCE

Later in the season, Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ bears arching sprays of fiery red flowers that are hard to beat. This bulbous, clump-forming perennial looks stunning planted in bold drifts and will add a tropical feel to a mixed herbaceous border, while its mounds of sword-shaped leaves contribute a valuable contrasting foliage shape.

BRAZILIAN BEAUTY

Abutilon megapotamicum has arching stems with large, fresh, green leaves and red and yellow-orange, lantern-shaped flowers. It is half-hardy, but can be overwintered in a conservatory or porch if grown in an easily moved container. An exotic stunner that flowers all summer long.

RED FROM SEED

For red flowers from seed try snapdragon ‘Liberty Scarlet’, Amaranthus ‘Velvet Curtains’ (above), basil ‘Red Boza’, sunflower ‘Claret’, kale ‘Redbor’, Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Rubenza’ and poppy ‘Ladybird’.

DARK DRAMA

With fresh-green leaves, near-black calyces and tall stems with sumptuous purple flowers, Salvia ‘Amistad’ is the perfect plant and will flower from May to October if regularly deadheaded.

A TOUCH OF THE TROPICS

In a bigger garden, or a large pot, try Ensete ventricosum, the Ethiopian banana, which has large, burgundy-flushed green leaves. It’s a magnificent specimen that works brilliantly with cannas and other large-leaved plants. Plant it towards the back of the border or in a prominent position for maximum impact. n

The huge, upstretched leaves of Gunnera manicata are echoed by those of the slightly smaller Darmera peltata beneath.

Green Credentials

Max Crisfield delves into the lush green foliage that now fills Borde Hill’s transformed Round Dell, thanks to an inspired redesign by Sophie Walker

Above Trachycarpus fortunei remained from the original garden, now underplanted with the contrasting dark foliage of Ligularia dentata. Above right The angular, tapering path ends at a water feature. Far right Delicate leaves of Aralia cachemirica. I n July 2018, as part of the garden’s 125th anniversary celebrations, Borde Hill in West Sussex o cially unveiled an exciting new development – a complete transformation of the Round Dell, a former quarry that was once used to excavate stone to build the walls around the Elizabethan manor house.

The task was undertaken by young, awardwinning garden designer Sophie Walker and conceived as a response to the garden’s rich horticultural history. Like many similar country estates here on the Sussex High Weald, Borde Hill Garden was born out of a late Victorian zeal for collecting plants from the furthest outposts of the British Empire. Colonel Stephenson Robert Clarke – a keen naturalist and collector – purchased the 200-acre estate in 1893 and set about commissioning professional plant hunters, like Ernest ‘Chinese’ Wilson, George Forrest and Frank Kingdon-Ward, to fi nd and send back new plant species from the Himalayas, China, the Americas and beyond. So began a process by which the Borde Hill estate grew into an unrivalled repository of rare and remarkable trees and shrubs. Four generations on, this reputation hasn’t dimmed: today, Borde Hill’s collection (listed by Kew Gardens as being of National Importance) has one of the greatest concentrations of Champion Trees and shrubs in any private UK garden.

Borde Hill’s chairman, Jim Gardiner (director of horticulture for the RHS and a former curator of RHS Garden Wisley) had seen Sophie Walker’s medal-winning show garden at the 2013 Hampton Court Flower Show. ‘A Valley Garden’ was a striking conceptual design in which a concrete-edged rill cut sharply through layered foliage planting to a black mirrored pool. He wondered if it might be possible

to replicate this design, or something similar, for the Round Dell at Borde Hill. For Sophie, this was an interesting challenge: to create a space that would resonate for 21st-century visitors, while referencing the legacy of those early plant pioneers.

Sophie and the team at Borde Hill have met this challenge head on. A narrow, concrete-edged path – modern, almost brutalist in conception – pierces the entrance to the dell like an arrow let loose from a bow. Where the path recedes to a sharp vanishing point, a pool is fed from above by a stainless-steel chute perched atop a concrete plinth. Surrounding this on all sides is lush, verdant, dramatic planting.

So far, so contemporary. But for all its cool linearity – “what I find really interesting,” says Sophie, “is that the only thing nature can’t do is a straight line” – the fullness of her design is sensuous and tactile and has a firm handle on the historical context of its surroundings. This is reflected most emphatically in the planting itself, which draws not only on the garden’s history, but also on the work of modern-day plant hunters like Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones of Crûg Farm Plants, from whom Sophie sourced many of her more esoteric choices.

Before work could begin in earnest, the original pond had to be infilled, drainage improved, and much of the existing subtropical planting – which had become quite dense and overgrown – removed, leaving only the truly mature specimens: the lofty bananas (Musa basjoo), the towering trachycarpus and the taxodiums. These provided an impressive backdrop for the new planting scheme.

When it came to plant selection, Sophie knew exactly what she wanted, and exactly what she wanted to leave out. Foliage, rather than flower, was her mantra. “I believe that the subtle can be more

Top from left Rodgersia pinnata ‘Crûg Cardinal’ with Fatsia polycarpa; a gold-flushed hosta; Fatsia polycarpa ‘Green Fingers’. Above from left The huge leaves of Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’ make a statement; Bupleurum fruticosum; filigree fronds of Dryopteris affinis ‘Polydactyla Dadds’. beautiful than the overt. Green is a remarkable colour: it is restful, luminous and extraordinary – you simply can’t replicate the green that chlorophyll produces in nature.” Sophie believes that a garden created predominantly with layers of green foliage can be very animated. “It’s almost humanistic,” she insists. “The shapes the leaves make, like hands and limbs, the sounds they create in the canopy.”

The ambition with this kind of planting is to knit everything together from the ground upwards, starting with a groundcover that smothers the bare soil. Here, this means shade-loving ferns such as Dryopteris affinis ‘Polydactyla Dadds’ and Matteuccia struthiopteris; broad-leaved Ligularia dentata and L. japonica ‘Rising Sun’; the Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum; and the ligularia-esque Farfugium japonicum from the mountains of southern Japan. Together with hostas, euphorbias and angelicas, planted to fill space while the new selections bulk up, they form a dense understorey.

Then there’s the mid-layer. By making a matrix of contrasting habits and hues, textures and shapes, it is possible to create the illusion of depth. Key plants here, many of them Crûg Farm selections, do just that. Darmera peltata (umbrella plant), a rhizomatous perennial with large, glossy, round leaves. Herbaceous Aralia apioides, with small, doubly pinnate leaves carried above striking glossy black stems. Rodgersia pinnata ‘Crûg Cardinal’, with its plume-like pink panicles and deepbronze foliage. Fatsia polycarpa, a relatively new introduction and a great alternative to the ubiquitous F. japonica, and Woodwardia unigemmata, a hardier selection of the Himalayan jewelled chain fern, also make a strong impression, the former for its large, lobed, palmate leaves, the latter for its huge arching fronds.

Finally, the canopy layer. For drama, you need to think big: big foliage, big leaves, big impact (this same adage is equally applicable in a small domestic garden). Here the whole scheme is anchored by some botanical heavyweights. The imperious architecture of Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’ and Trachycarpus fortunei. The primordial tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica. The beautiful, multi-fingered scheffleras, here represented by the relatively hardy S. delavayi, S. rhododendrifolia and the giant S. macrophylla. Head gardener Andy Stevens also has great hopes

(literally) for a coppiced Magnolia macrophylla, known as the ‘bigleaf magnolia’, which is rare even in its native South Carolina: “Early days yet, but there should be some impressive foliage – watch this space!” he enthuses.

To achieve this subtropical look here in the UK, it is essential to choose plants not only for their exotic appearance but also for their hardiness and adaptability to the local conditions. This site has a tendency to hold frost in winter and consequently, some more tender choices (the scheffleras, neolitsea and aralias) have struggled and need winter protection. Andy uses fleece for the scheffleras and straw or pots for the bananas.

This has prompted the team to focus on planting suited to the Dell’s distinct microclimate. “The area needed two different types of planting,” Andy explains, “plants for the main foliage area, which is sheltered and well protected on three sides, and then plants for the south-facing entrance, which is hot and dry in summer.” It was difficult to come up with dramatic foliage for the latter, he admits, “because these conditions suit smaller-leaved plants best. So we had to experiment: we tried various larger foliage selections – Eriobotrya japonica (the large-leaved Japanese loquat), Broussonetia papyrifera (the east Asian paper mulberry) and melianthus – and interplanted these with euphorbias and the hardy bromeliads, fascicularia and puya. And fingers crossed, so far so good.”

What Sophie, Andy and the team have created here is a space that plays with contradictory ideas and concepts about past and present, authenticity and artifice. At the same time, they have made a magical ‘garden-within-a-garden’ – an immersive green Eden that provokes in visitors an intuitive desire to explore and discover, just as the plant pioneers who helped shape Borde Hill once did over a century ago. “The Round Dell is a sunken, excavated realm that you enter,” explains Sophie. “The Secret Garden was my favourite book as a child, and I love that idea of journey and discovery.” And she’s right: this is a garden that slowly reveals itself the deeper you delve, a garden to be ‘experienced’ in the truest sense of the word rather than simply admired from the sidelines. n

Above Not all the plants are rare or unusual: here, a green hosta is a perfect foil to a tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica. Top right Gorgeous Magnolia macrophylla. Right Schefflera delavayi is one of the hardiest of these handsome plants.

Borde Hill Garden, Borde Hill Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1XP. Tel: +44 (0)1444 450326; bordehill.co.uk; sophiewalkerstudio.com

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Membership of the Royal Horticultural Society. Tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show on Members’ Day. Tour of Great Dixter in East Sussex. A private tour of Prince Charles’s estate at Highgrove*. Visits to Sissinghurst, RHS Wisley, Stourhead, Hidcote Manor, Mottisfont Abbey, Bath and Salisbury. Stay at first-class hotels, full of charm and character. Small tour groups with a maximum of 15 participants.

Tour cost: $4,680 per person, double occupancy. *See full itinerary for all confirmed inclusions This has been at least the sixth trip we have booked with your company and I am sure that some time in the future we will be booking another trip with you. doug c. It was heaven for us! It was good to have tours of Bath and Stonehenge as counterweights to all of the gardens visited.

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