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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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The work continues...

I started on the second portion of the lawn redo project on Saturday. I got a lot done, hauling in 3 loads of pea gravel and getting most of it spread. The pathways will weave through the area and criss-cross at various points. The areas in-between will be planted with dwarf mondo grass. That is the next step.







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  1. Dirt PrincessAugust 3, 2009 at 10:35 AM

    Wow...it already looks great! can't wait to see it unfold

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  2. Lisa at GreenbowAugust 3, 2009 at 10:53 AM

    Phillip how are you keeping your gravel in the path?? It looks marvelous. I wish I could traverse your garden paths, then sit in one of those benches surrounded by your gorgeous roses. Aahhhhh...heavenly just to think of it.

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  3. Dave@The Home GardenAugust 3, 2009 at 11:23 AM

    It looks great so far! Have you thought about some sort of edging? I can't wait to see it all complete.

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  4. Phillip OliverAugust 3, 2009 at 11:35 AM

    Dave, I haven't thought about edging but I should probably do that. Do you have any suggestions?

    Lisa, the gravel has been fine so far and we had a huge rainstorm on Saturday. I still should consider an edging.

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  5. RandyAugust 3, 2009 at 11:44 AM

    Phillip,
    That's looking fantastic! What does Michael think about everything so far?--Randy

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  6. Roses and LilacsAugust 3, 2009 at 12:20 PM

    The work you've done so far has really made a difference. That gravel looks great but I would worry about it moving around. I've been on beautiful gravel paths in public gardens but didn't pay any attention if they had them edged.
    Marnie

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  7. CarolAugust 3, 2009 at 4:45 PM

    Love the movement in your path Phillip... great effect... so lovely really... gosh... what an inviting garden you have.

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  8. CarolAugust 3, 2009 at 5:10 PM

    http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/

    Phillip I was just visiting this blog when I saw these ideas for edging... you might find it interesting. You will have to scroll down a bit to see this post. Carol

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  9. JanAugust 3, 2009 at 5:46 PM

    I think this area is going to look so good; it already is an improvement just with the gravel. When I started mulching very shady areas, I couldn't believe how nice it looked, so much better than sparse grass and dirt. I think you have come upon the perfect solution for that shady area.

    Jan
    Always Growing

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  10. Southern AspirationsAugust 3, 2009 at 7:07 PM

    This is going to be fantastic- looks gorgeous already.

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  11. sweetbayAugust 3, 2009 at 7:17 PM

    Philip that looks great -- you have done a LOT of work.

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  12. Chandramouli SAugust 3, 2009 at 9:58 PM

    I'm excited for you! [jump, jump, boing... jump... boing...]

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  13. Monica the Garden FaerieAugust 4, 2009 at 5:30 AM

    Looks nice! Here, pea gravel is gray; is yours there always beigeish/pinkish? I like it.

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  14. Phillip OliverAugust 4, 2009 at 6:23 AM

    Randy, Michael loves it. The layout of the paths was his idea.

    Marnie, I'm going to look at edging and will probably install something.

    Carol, thank you for the links. I will check those out.

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  15. Phillip OliverAugust 4, 2009 at 6:24 AM

    Thanks Jan, S.A., Chandramouli and Sweetbay.

    Monica, this gravel is called the "rainbow mix". It is very colorful and pretty. I will take a close up photo and share it later.

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  16. Catherine@AGardenerinProgressAugust 4, 2009 at 11:20 AM

    It looks fantastic! You have such a beautiful yard, I was looking at everything else in the pictures as well as you new paths.

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  17. AnonymousAugust 4, 2009 at 3:21 PM

    Fabulous! Your trees so beautiful they way you have them mult-trunked and limed up. They create a special place for the paths and plantings. Please keep us apprised of your progress.

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  18. Carol MichelAugust 4, 2009 at 3:47 PM

    I'm impressed, that's a lot of work to haul all that gravel. How nice it will be stroll along them when the planting is done.

    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

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  19. Dig, Grow, Compost, BlogAugust 4, 2009 at 5:20 PM

    It looks very clean, pristine, and inviting. Congratulations on such a great look!

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  20. How It GrowsAugust 4, 2009 at 5:55 PM

    Looking good!

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  21. JonAugust 5, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    Great looking project, Phillip. What about bricks for edging?


    Jon

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  22. Rob (ourfrenchgarden)August 6, 2009 at 1:37 AM

    The path just meanders nicely.

    Beautiful trees!

    It's going to work nicely Philip

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  23. AnonymousAugust 7, 2009 at 5:36 AM

    It's looking wonderful, Phillip. And with the mondo grass it will be fantastic. Congratulations.

    Barbara H.

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  24. Dee/reddirtramblingsAugust 7, 2009 at 1:54 PM

    Oh, that is so pretty. I love those curving paths. So inviting.~~Dee

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  25. JanAugust 9, 2009 at 6:12 PM

    Oh Phillip, it looks magnificent! The winding paths are awesome!

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