This garden was a marvel and one of the highlights of my last trip to England in June. It was simply stunning, with picture-perfect views at every corner. This post will have be heavy with photos, but it was hard to edit many of them out. In fact, I will do a second post that features the "Desert Wash", a xeric portion of the garden.
This is a large garden, now encompassing 32 acres, though it began as just a 2-acre property. The land was purchased in 1973 by Alan Gray and Graham Robeson. Living in London at the time, they worked on the property on weekends. In 1989, they moved there full-time and began expanding the garden.
The garden is located only 1.5 miles from the North Sea and it is a very windy area. They added hedges early on to protect the garden and there are also bordering Monterey pines, oaks and alders to shield. Before the garden was created, the land was described as a prairie-like field. Thanks to the moderating influence of the sea and the shelter they established, the garden now enjoys a favorable microclimate that allows them to grow many marginal plants.
The garden is composed of garden rooms. First, the Entrance Court Garden in front of the house.
Proceeding to the back of the house, where the garden rooms begin -
The Exotic Garden with an Inverse Fountain, designed by Giles Rayner -
The Rose Garden (I think) -
The Catalpa Garden -
The Mediterranean Garden
The Diamond Jubilee Garden
A cluster of gardens continue, which consist of The Glasshouse Garden, The Tea Garden and The Long Borders. I wasn't exactly sure what was what (I did not have a map at the time) -
Sadly, Graham Robeson passed away the previous year. He is buried in the Mediterraean garden.
In my next post, I will show photos of the Desert Wash.
Such a thrilling garden. I left with tons of inspiration and lots of ideas.
Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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