Coleton Fishacre (Devon, England)
Coleton Fishacre was in my top 5 gardens on the tour. This Arts & Crafts style house and garden was the country home of Rupert D'Oyly Carte and his wife Lady Dorothy Carte. He was the well-known theater owner (The Savoy) and producer (Gilbert & Sullivan). They spotted the property from their yacht and thought it would be a great spot for a country home and garden. Ah, to have that much money... They commissioned Oswald Milne, a former student of Edward Lutyens to design the house. Both Rupert and Lady Dorothy were interested in gardening but it was Lady Dorothy who mainly planted the garden, filling it with exotic and tender plants that survived with the influence of the Gulf stream. They employed six full-time gardeners! I often wonder if people who have that much money are really able to enjoy a property like this and actually live in it? Their tenure here wasn't that long (a dozen years or so), although Dorothy lived here full-time in the late 19...
Fun!
ReplyDeleteI've seen pictures from some of the past flings on some of my blogs and it looks like it's a great time. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures.
ReplyDeleteI plan to be there. I hope to meet you and Michael (if he can stand all of us petal pushers).
ReplyDeleteI am thinking about this. I can't stay for 5 days, but I can do a few, and if some other of my blog friends are going it would definitely be worth the trip. Its not all that far actually...
ReplyDeleteDear Phillip, Saw your garden on Photo of the Day. Congratulations on being posted there! Well deserved -- your garden is stunning. Wish I could go to the Fling, but funds are tight this year. Enjoy! P.
ReplyDeletePhillip, I also enjoyed seeing your garden on GPOD today. Congrats! Such a work of true garden art, through and through. I look forward to reading more about it this season!
ReplyDelete(I see we have lots of mutual blogging friends already.)
And the fling will be so fab! My family and I were just in Asheville this past June already. Beautiful location.
Julie