HIDCOT MANOR GARDEN

HIDCOTE MANOR GARDEN

I find taking photographs in the rain very difficult while balancing the brolly on my shoulder.  Add a wind gust and the brolly goes flying.   Suddenly rain is everywhere and it's not pleasant anymore!  None of this, however,  could spoil my first visit to Hidcote.   I had been looking forward to visiting this garden for such a long time!  

We are into week two of our garden tour and even more fascinating than the gardens themselves,  is  finding out more about their creators.  

Hidcote Manor Garden is an Arts and Crafts garden and one of the most famous gardens in the world.  When Lawrence Johnston's mother bought Hidcote in early 1900,   there was no garden there with the exception of a few mature trees.  Lawrence began developing the garden in 1907 and his development of the garden continued for the next 40 years.  He travelled the world in search of unusual and interesting plants and created a  'laboratory'  at Hidcote.  After finding the winters at Hidcote a little too harsh for the acclimatisation of these unusual plants,  he bought a series of agricultural terraces called Serre de la Madone in France.  This was to become his Riviera residence.  I am hoping to do a new post on this, his second garden after some more research and hopefully a visit.

Originally an American,  Lawrence Johnston was educated in Paris and Cambridge.  In 1900, after he became a British subject,  he joined the Imperial Yeomanry and was posted to South Africa where he fought in the Second Boer War.  It was during the time he spent there  that Johnston developed a love of South Africa flora.  In 1902, he served  in World War 1 and attained the rank of Major.

I can imagine the relief he experienced when returning to Hidcote after the time spent in the forces.  The peace and beauty of the countryside would have been a balm to his soul.  He was a reserved man and rarely allowed any photographs of his garden.  He shared his plans and the garden with very few. 

Lawrence Johnston acquired an extraordinary knowledge of the plant kingdom and remained a plant hunter all his life.   

Lavender 'Hidcote' and Hypericum 'Hidcote' originated from this garden.    A yellow, semi-double climber bears the name 'Lawrence Johnston'.  The sheer size and scale of the garden was truly impressive and it was thanks to  The National Trust who took over the garden in 1948, that the garden became available to the public and has been enjoyed by so many.

Hidcote Manor House

The White Garden

The Old Garden

The Great Lawn

The photo above is not mine.  I included this  to highlight the problems the Yew bird topiaries are  experiencing which is obvious in my photo above this one.

Auriculas galore.   In 2011 The National Trust commissioned Michael Dillon to paint the mural as seen here in the Italian House.  The original mural painted by Johnston had virtually worn away.

The central Stream Garden

The Long Walk

The Long Walk facing the Gazebos

The Long Walk

The Pillar Garden

The Pillar Garden

The Long Walk

This peaceful scene just off the edge of the garden

The Stilt Garden

The Long Borders. This was at the end of a couple of hours in the garden and the weather greatly improved!

Lawrence Johnston's tool shed

GRAVETYE MANOR

GRAVETYE MANOR

 I was totally unaware of my luck in finding Gravetye when originally researching hotels in England for our garden tour.  I had never heard of Gravetye.. 

The hotel as it is now,  began life in 1598 when it was built for Katherine Compton and Richard Infield,  an ironmaster.  In 1884, Gravetye became the home of William Robinson, author of "The English Flower Garden", until his death in 1935.  Under his stewardship,  the garden became one of the most famous in England. 

"Robinson's ideas about naturalised plantings,  allowing nature to flow into the garden were ground breaking."  He introduced new ideas and traditions that are almost taken for granted today.

He introduced the 'mixed border' or herbaceous border, mass planting perennials and bulbs and leaving no ground space open, thus creating 'ground cover plants'!

Wild gardening and creating large drifts of perennials into meadows and woodland and waterside, was perhaps his most significant influence.  He loved the idea of the wild garden joining the formal constraints - allowing nature and the structured garden to merge into one.    Not only was our stay at Gravetye delightful,  but I got to learn about William Robinson as well.  I took over a hundred photos at Gravetye and below are a few.  I might do another post showing more photos at a later stage.  

The naturalised garden tumbling down towards the formal gardens.

A sea of Aliums and the white wisteria about to flower

We were sorry to leave and will definitely be back!

NYMANS GARDENS

MY VISIT TO NYMANS

Visiting Nymans was a last minute decision.   We were en route from London to Gravetye Manor in East Sussex and Nymans happened to be on the way.  Being a Bank holiday in the UK,  the place was crowded and it took some patience and lurking in order to achieve these photos!

Developed by three generations of the Jewish Messel family,  Ludwig Messel left Germany and bought the estate in the late 19th Century and set about improving the house and planning an Arts and Crafts inspired garden.  His head gardener was James Comber who helped establish plant collections, developing many original sports and hybrids unique to Nymans.    William Robinson also helped in the planning of the wild garden.  I was interested to hear this as William Robinson was responsible for developing and designing the beautiful garden at Gravetye where we were headed.

The garden reached it's peak in the 1930's and was regularly opened to the public.  Unfortunately,  there was a disastrous fire in the house in 1947,  and the house today survives as a garden ruin.  Upon Leonard Messel's death in 1953,  the garden was left to the National Trust.  The Great Storm of 1987 wreaked havoc and 486 mature trees were lost as well as many shrubs.  Restorations are on-going.  Despite the fact that the famous herbaceous borders were not yet in flower,  we still enjoyed the garden immensely, although the low light was not ideal for taking photos. 

A wonderful Wisteria Walk

The Dovecote

A section of the house where the roof is still in tact.

This magnificent Copper Beech is apparently over 200 years old..