Over a period of 20 years, designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd has been developing the gardens of this Berkshire home
IN BRIEF
What English country house with mixed formal and informal planting.
Where Berkshire.
Size Seven-and-a-half acres.
Soil Clay above chalk.
Climate Temperate but its relatively high elevation means it’s very windy.
Hardiness zone USDA 9.
It was more than 20 years ago that designer Arabella Lennox- Boyd was first approached to help develop the expansive gardens of this Tudor estate in Berkshire. “A long relationship,”as Arabella puts it. “One that has developed in a slow and natural way.”
No garden of sincere character or charm can be created overnight and certainly this property has a long history with the original farmhouse dating back to around 1530 – although enlarged in the 1920s. The later brick extensions have a different character but, despite the material difference, the building hangs together. Unified at the centre of this garden, the house provides an impressive backdrop to the various garden areas, each with its distinct atmosphere.
Suitably for a property of this age the surrounding landscape is populated by trees of prodigious size including a mighty oak that stands sentinel just to the right of the main entrance gate. Graced with distinctly muscular yet reaching limbs this tree is a picture of health, but on ducking beneath its branches it is possible to see a dramatic scar running from the tip of its canopy to the ground where it was struck by lightning. A defiant statement of longevity and surely a good omen to greet every visitor.
On this occasion I was met by Kevin Jordan, who has been head gardener for more than ten years. The world of horticulture is a more dynamic place than it was even a few decades ago with gardeners increasingly interested in building experience in a range of gardens and even countries.
While this should rightly be encouraged, and new gardeners often bring fresh energy and enthusiasm, there is a solidity to a garden developed over a sustained tenure. As Arabella puts it, “the gardeners are the most important part of the project”. In this garden Kevin is ably supported by his team – Arthur, Tom and part-timers Irene and Alexia.
The house’s main entrance is preceded by an avenue of pleached limes – fresh green leaves bely an age revealed in undulating limbs and oversized knuckles. Kevin explains how during the annual prune he instructs his team not to lean on the branches already overly heavy with their own gnarled weight.
This pleached path leads to the front door – though not the one most regularly used – where a large, cobbled circle radiates out before the door flanked by large pots of hostas and large, yew topiary delicately tiered, somehow lightening what might have been an oppressive feature.
This west-facing wall is covered with Chinese Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus henryana, with Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris adding to the predominance of the colour green, which creates a restful yet characterful approach, before heading round to more exuberant plantings of the house’s southern flank. Just as a symphony needs an Adagio movement, so gardens – at least gardens large enough to permit it – benefit from periods of slower tempo before reaching the crescendo.
Certainly, in the transition to the Fountain Garden and the South Terrace, there is a certain uplift in energy with more exuberant plantings. Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ and ranging wisteria clad the wall, while the lawn of the Fountain Garden is dominated by a circular fountain bought in Florence 40 years ago.
Deep borders are backed by high yew hedges, their deep green providing such an effective backdrop to perennials, grasses and the silvery foliage of Pyrus salicifolia. The planting palette is generally on the cooler side, favouring blues, whites and purples, with Arabella noting the importance of silver acting as a harmonising constant throughout the garden.
Silvery-foliaged perennials such as Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, Phlomis italica and Stachys byzantina appear throughout. The generous planting continues into the Rose Garden where four columnar yews flank an impressive pergola, clad with roses and Clematis montana, with beds of traditional geometry surrounding a sculpture.
The scheme for this garden was reimagined by Arabella in 2017 with cottage garden stalwarts such as geraniums, nepetas, Iris ‘Perry’s Blue’ and Viola cornuta weaving their way among the feet of mostly hybrid tea roses, all of which suit the somewhat less formal feel of the 1920s extension behind.
The playful sculpture of a young boy dancing on the back of a snail nods to a lightheartedness that pervades this garden, where the incongruous head of Winston Churchill suddenly appears, poking out of a yew hedge. Beyond this a path leads to a larger-than-life-sized statue of a gorilla carrying an enormous salmon that was made by the late British artist Angus Fairhurst.
Such lightness is crucial to a garden that is really about the large family who reside here. Beyond the more formal and cultivated areas near the house, it is a great garden for children with play areas and plenty of corners in which to play hide and seek. When I asked Arabella which part of the garden made her happiest, after considerable deliberation, she responded “the orchard”. In this lovely area wildflower meadows feather the garden’s relationship to the surrounding parkland landscape.
Gentle, mown paths lead through these meadows to a poignant part where each family member has been represented by a different tree in a copse centred around a stately holm oak. Kevin notes how both Arabella and the garden’s owners are passionate planters of trees, which help to mute the sound of the nearby motorway but more importantly, given the garden is 190m above sea level, also protect against strong winds.
Walking around this glorious garden in the company of Kevin it is clear that perhaps its greatest success is the relationship that exists between designer, gardener and owner. Gardening on a private estate such as this can sometimes be a challenging, and often lonely, occupation – but it is one that is certainly rendered much more rewarding by the active engagement of those for whom the garden is being created.
Over the past year big changes have taken place in the garden with hedges being realigned and the Fountain Garden borders being totally reimagined. It is the dynamic and evolving nature of this garden that helps keep Kevin and his team so enthusiastic about it.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Find out more about Arabella’s work at arabellalennoxboyd.com
