GARDENS
COURTING FAVOUR
Nick Woodhouse delves into the fascinating history of Kilver Court and explores its incredible gardens with the current owner and designer, Mulberry’s Roger Saul Words and photos by Nick Woodhouse
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t was by chance that Roger Saul came across Kilver Court in his search for a new home for his international fashion brand, Mulberry. The usual route he would take from their factory in Chilcompton to his Glastonbury home at Sharpham Park was closed, the diversion taking him instead through Shepton Mallet. It was here he spotted a for sale sign for the former international headquarters of Allied Domecq, the drinks group. It had been vacant for two years, but with its gardening team carefully maintaining the grounds for its new owners. Roger, a keen plant enthusiast and gardener, was enthralled.
and home to some 20 mills, some of which once stood within the very gardens we see today. Wool production ceased in 1830, provoking riots and the burning of many mills. In their place, Ernest Jardine, a social reformer and unusually enlightened industrialist created a ‘model factory’, introducing lace-making machines and the gardens, Jardine’s Park for his employees to enjoy. The millponds were used as a boating lake and allotments were provided for workers to grow their own produce. The Great Depression proved too much for the model however and the factory closed in 1929, the mill buildings becoming empty for some time, and the adjoining gardens earning a new name locally; The Wilderness. The site was finally acquired by the Showering family in the 1950s as part of the expansion of their legendary sparkling perry brand, Babycham. Herbert Showering soon appointed George Whitelegg to recreate a grander version of his Chelsea Flower Show gold-medal winning garden in its grounds. To help recreate its mature rockery, Babycham lorries would return from their deliveries across the country with supplies; boulders from the Forest of Dean and turf from as far afield as Cumbria. When Mulberry moved their headquarters to the site in 1996, Roger was keen to work with the existing garden structures but was
“Babycham lorries would return…with rockery supplies; boulders from the Forest of Dean and turf from as far afield as Cumbria” And unsurprisingly so – the looming arches of the Charlton railway viaduct that tower over the gardens are only a small glimpse of the industrial heritage that this valley holds. In the late 18th century it became the hub of the region’s burgeoning woollen industry, harnessing the power of the River Sheppey
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equally eager to introduce his own, very personal changes. His love of gardens had in fact started at a young age, his grandmother relaying the Latin names of each of the plants as they walked through her gardens together. The purchase of Sharpham Park by Roger and his wife Monty in 1977 provided the perfect opportunity to really hone the knowledge and skills he acquired since then. Its two-acre walled garden was home to thirty metres of herbaceous borders that had fallen out of control. Roger took his inspiration for the project from the gardens of Hestercombe in Somerset, created in the early twentieth century by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. It was here, with its rills, pergola and stonework structures that Roger leant two lessons that he holds dear today; that structure in a garden is everything, and the enduring need for constant surprise. Jekyll’s planting schemes have long been inspirational to Roger too, so much so that he nominated the garden designer as his subject when invited to contribute to the BBC Great Lives series. Roger would often head to the nursery at Hadspen House near Castle Cary when buying plants for Sharpham. Here, he built a close relationship with Nori and Sandra Pope, who had created the famed and breath-taking plantings within Hadspen’s walled parabola, taking visitors through seamless gradations through the colour spectrum in the most extraordinary detail. So it only seemed natural that Roger would turn to Nori and Sandra for advice when looking to turn the corporate rose gardens of Kilver Court into something more personal, something more inviting. Roger
