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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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Wells Cathedral, Swan Hotel, Wells Street Market & Vicar's Close



After a day of touring Stourhead and The Newt, it was back to our hotel in Wells - The Swan. This is an older hotel with a bewilderingly complex floor plan. Narrow hallways, multi-level staircases, and endless turns, it was like something out of the Winchester widow's house. I was unable to locate my room after checking in and had to seek assistance. 


The previous night, I had dinner in the hotel restaurant, and had fish and chips with traditional mushy peas. It was delicious. 


Before leaving for Stourhead that morning, I walked down the street filled with quaint shops. A street market was in the process of setting up -

















Proceeding down the next few blocks leads you to Wells Cathedral and the surrounding area -









Down a side street to Vicar's Close, Europe's oldest street with original buildings intact. Dating back to the mid-fourteenth century, the 27 residences were built for Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury. The houses are mostly occupied by students. I thought it was a bit of a shame as most of the houses had drab landscaping (the ones in these photos being the exception). I can just imagine this filled with cottage gardens -












Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2025 at 7:40 AM

    English Fish and Chips is delicious. Did you try any blood sausage for breakfast? Not many dare :-D
    I find those early morning strolls down the 700 year old streets are as much fun as visiting the gardens.
    Chavli

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    1. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2025 at 7:56 AM

      I did, not knowing what it was. When someone told me, I stopped eating!

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    2. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2025 at 1:13 PM

      Have you ever thought about how exactly this squeamishness really confirms exactly how rich we are as a country? LOADS of stuff we *choose* not to consume. We have extreme privilege. Obviously England isn't as desperate as it was way back when blood sausage was a caloric/nutritional necessity. It's choice there as well, now, but the existence of it as a normalized foodstuff still goes to show...

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  2. tz_gardenSeptember 12, 2025 at 8:55 AM

    This post brought back so many memories for me, not visiting this exact spot - but the UK in general. The fish 'n chips & mushy peas among them! Although I'm going to have to look up what a Flapjackery is? *Chunky oat bars, they look delicious.

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  3. Kris PetersonSeptember 12, 2025 at 10:17 AM

    Such a different "in town" experience from what one would encounter here. I've come to dislike window shopping but I'm sure I would've had fun doing it there!

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  4. JerrySeptember 16, 2025 at 8:56 PM

    Dang, that sign about the coffee shop and the view. Someone was feeling sore! Loved seeing the Wells Cathedral and Vicar's Close.

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM

    That fish looks like a whale!

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