English country gardens retain their old world charm

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 25

English country gardens retain their old world charm

By

THELMA STRONGMAN,

of Christchurch

Wessex was the name created by Thomas Hardy to cover an area of English countryside described in his novels. It was essentially the amalgamation of parts of three existing counties, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire. Even today the area has a rich rural landscape with many country houses and gardens which can be visited. These vary from the exquisite eighteenth century landscape garden at Stourhead to the small cottage garden of Hardy’s birthplace at Higher Rockhampton. The following three gardens can be visited in one day by car.

Barrington Court, near Ilminster Barrington Court is one of the most impressive large sixteenth century houses in Somerset, romantically resplendent in gables, finials and spiral chimneys and partly surrounded by a moat. Dividing the lawn from the parkland is a type of ha-ha or sunken fence, a eighteenth century device which enabled the turf to appear continuous from the house to the park, yet prevented the grazing stock from approaching the houses too closely. Very little is known of the early gardens, but there is an old-fashioned walled kitchen garden, constructed on a four square layout with a central dipping pond. Espalier fruit trees give structure to the garden and peaches, plums, apples and pears cover the

walls. A wide variety of vegetables are still grown there, both for the house and for sale.

The great Miss Jekyll provided the planting plans for the beds and borders of the main gardens, which were established in the 1920 s inside the walls of the old cattle yards. It is possible that she was consulted for the overall design, as the brick paths show her typical herringbone patterns and attention to detail, especially in the Lily Garden. The Iris Garden has a central sundial and is a garden of soft colours — blues, pinks and lavenders backed by purple clematis. The Rose Garden with its central sundial is composed of floribunda and hybrid tea roses, with climbing roses covering the walls. Tintinhull, near Yeovil

Tintinhull is a much smaller dwelling, built in the seventeenth century. The walled Eagle Court is probably original but the remainder of the .3ha garden was established by Mrs Phyllis Reiss, an inspired plantswoman. She developed the garden in small outdoor rooms of different character as in the Hidcote/Sissinghurst tradition.

Most of the borders are “mixed" — composed of small trees, flowering and foliage plants, grasses and bulbs and are planted for year-round interest. The third garden from the house terminated the long vista with a simple garden seat. There is a small central pool with a fountain and the planting is of white flowers and grey leaves. In another garden a long reflecting pool terminates at the foot of a loggia. A copy of the original planting list is available in the gardens.

Abbotsbury near Weymouth This garden contrasts strongly with the others. There is no existing mansion and the garden is planted informally. It is essentially a woodland garden of considerable beauty which is established in one of the wannest locations in England. Situated on the Dorset coast close to Chesil Reach — a curious sea-spit of mounded pebbles — its remarkably warm winter temperatures and dryish summers allow for the growth of many plants rarely found in Britain.

The gardens have a long history.

They-were expanded in the eighteenth century by William Fox Strangways, a botanist and plant collector of some renown. The genus Stransvaesia is named after him. The walled garden still contains a number of his botanical rarities including the Caucasian Wing Nut which is the most perfect of its kind existing in Europe, and the hollylike Villar esia mucronata from Chile which is rare both in cultivation and in the wild. A - group of large old camellias are thought to be some of the original plants introduced into England in the eighteenth century.

Another rarity is Picconia excelsa, the false olive of Madiera and the Canary Islands, and also the beautiful flowering tree Comus “Ormonds,” which is a rare cross between Comus nuttalli and Comus florida. At the end of the Victorian era, descendants of Fox-Strangways planted many of the “new” plants which were being discovered in the Far East.

The future prospect is exciting at Abbotsbury for it is expanding with new species currently being discovered in China by Roy Lancaster and others. Some of these have not yet been seen in the western world, and the new discoveries are thought to be at least as extensive as those at the turn of the century. The garden is also involved with growing rare plants from the endangered forest areas of the Azores and other Atlantic Islands.