THE
english
GARDEN APRIL 2024
For everyone who loves beautiful gardens
NEW SERIES
Choose and grow the best
A year in the kitchen garden of Tresillian House
6
www.theenglishgarden.co.uk
HELLEBORES
SPRING GARDENS
PACKED WITH BULBS, BLOSSOM AND THE SEASON’S NEW LEAVES
Inspiration for April IDEAS for spring containers Top 10 plants with SPIRES Add HEIGHT with stylish arches Lou Tonkin’s gorgeous PRINTS
£5.99
The New OLD WAYS
A grand old Tudor manor house whose gardens had slipped into disarray, Chenies Manor in Buckinghamshire underwent a revival in the 1950s thanks to Elizabeth Macleod Matthews, and her methods are employed by her daughter-in-law, Boo, to this day WORDS KERRIE LLOYD-DAWSON PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS
Opposite The Sunken Garden, awash with colour themed waves of tulips, with The Diver, by Alan Biggs at its centre. This image Golden tulips and topiary alongside pale yellow narcissus.
APRIL 2024 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 23
Hidden BEAUTY
In a most secluded Cotswold location is a rare garden of refined elegance, its structure and planting honed by designer Rupert Golby so that it pulses with wave after wave of spring loveliness WORDS ANNETTE WARREN PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS
30 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2024
This image Trained against a Cotswold stone wall is an espaliered pear; below it, orange ‘Ballerina’ tulips. Opposite A wooden bridge over the water.
APRIL 2024 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 31
Above Potted topiary joins lollipop bay trees to add a sense of formality at the front of the house. Left Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’ starts to flower in late spring, well before traditional rose season. Below Classic tulip ‘White Triumphator’ with its elegant lily flowers.
50 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2024
and oaks. I was attracted to the house right from the very start because I could see the potential offered by its south-facing garden.” Sue says there wasn’t any kind of masterplan for what would emerge over the years and decades to come; indeed, back then, her experience of gardening amounted to what she had gleaned as a child, but she was willing to learn and has had a willing teacher in the shape of knowledgeable plantsman Geoffrey Plane for the past three decades. She’s also received assistance from Jeremy Kenchington, who has spent 20 years or so helping her to keep the hedges trimmed and lawns, including the tennis court, neatly mown, while making enormous volumes of compost that are used as a mulch on the clay soil. With four children running around, I wasn’t able to do very much in the beginning,” Sue explains.“Geoff is the one who has really taught me. He’s very modest. He started gardening when he was 16 and trained in various places; he happened to be leaving a garden when I met him and I asked him to come and help me, which he still does one day a week. We work together: I have the ideas and Geoff tells me which plants will work. I’ve changed the garden so many times, but the current layout has been in place for around 15 years.”
Built to LAST
A tremendous feat of Victorian engineering, the landscape of Stobo Japanese Water Garden in the Scottish Borders has endured for over a century, its sense of flow and zen-like peace prevailing WORDS CLARE FOGGETT PHOTOGRAPHS RAY COX
A Japanese bridge crosses the burn, while a pool of still water upstream creates pretty reflections of spring’s newly clothed trees.
APRIL 2024 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 59
COLOUR PARADE Out come the tulips at the wonderful Cotswold garden of Trench Hill, where the bright and beautiful planting even gives the view a run for its money WORDS MANDY BRADSHAW PHOTOGRAPHS IAN THWAITES
I
t takes something very special to compete with the view at Trench Hill. From the garden’s elevated vantage point, the Cotswold countryside is spread out like a tapestry below, hills folding into each other with a sheep here and a village church spire there. In spring though, all eyes are on the tulips and a display that runs into thousands of bulbs in a paintbox array of colours. One border is a vibrant mix of yellow and orange, in another pink, purple and white combine, while elsewhere there are pastel shades. On a crisp spring morning it’s a sight that will make your heart sing. This three-acre garden in Sheepscombe near Stroud has been created over the past 30 years by Celia Hargrave, but the tulips are a recent addition. She’d always liked them, but not until 2019 were they planted in any great number. It was only during lockdown that she realised what an impact they had. 64 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2024
This page The collection
of boldly coloured tulips is added to every year, keeping within the same colour scheme. Opposite Crown imperial, Fritillaria imperialis, in deep rusty orange. APRIL 2024 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 65
PERGOLAS
WORDS CLARE FOGGETT IMAGE CLIVE NICHOLS
The striking pergola in Wollerton Old Hall’s Sundial Garden forms the perfect full stop at the end of its long and sumptuous borders.
A TOUCH OF CLASS Add instant elegance with a pergola. There’s a style to suit every garden, whether you want shelter, growing space or a sophisticated focal point
APRIL 2024 THE ENGLISH GARDEN 75