Page 114 - Country Homes & Interiors (August 2019)

The fully restored
Victorian walled kitchen
garden is planted with
a mix of annual flowers,
asters and verbena
bonariensis

CH&I lovesÉ

recycling
materials

and truly tender species such as aeoniums, daturas and strelitzias
When you are restoring or
are overwintered in the glasshouse. ‘The garden is always evolving, relandscaping a garden, have a
and these borders change radically every year,’ Phillippa adds. ‘make do and mend’ attitude. The
It is a similar story in the walled potager, a reinstatement of the Lamberts re-used plants and
materials such as stone wherever
original early Victorian kitchen garden. ‘I experiment with annuals
possible, following ‘green’
and I’m always looking for the perfect blue contrast to the reds
strategies throughout the garden.
and oranges of the cannas and dahlias,’ she says. To date, the best Here’s what they did...
shade she has found is Ageratum ‘Everest Blue’, one of countless • Old stone was re-used to repair
plants grown annually from seed or cuttings in the Alitex greenhouse. the lakeside wall, as well as to

‘It’s absolutely essential – I like the look of overflowing abundance, redefine the original Victorian paths.
and the only way to achieve that is with many, many plants.’ • The woodland was cleared of
After a century of decline, the original walled garden housed a debris, revealing a number of
healthy trees – limes, sycamores,
tropical bird park until 1996. ‘Planning permission was given to
yews, black poplars and
build a contemporary house on the site, on the proviso that the horse chestnuts.
landscape be restored within two years,’ Phillippa explains. ‘Initially,
• Lakeside paths were resurfaced
our greatest challenge was demolishing structures and getting rid and borders prepared, using a
of the rubbish.’ Derelict metal bird cages had to be dismantled whilst mixture of silt from the lake, top
a network of drains needed clearing. ‘We then carefully reinstated soil compost and horse manure.
the kitchen garden, complete with period-style greenhouse, cold • A large underground reservoir
frames, potting shed and paths arranged in a decorative potager now collects rainwater from the
house and outbuilding roofs,
design that embraces annuals, herbs, fruits and vegetables.’
supplying an irrigation system.
Following the line of the original Victorian path, a central brick
• A small pond was excavated
using a mini-digger, and a
path is lined with repeated clumps of evergreen Euphorbia
ceratocarpa, creating a golden-green haze. Access paths separate waterfall was supplied via
the area into 16 beds, as well as six raised beds built from locally pipework from springs at
grown timber. Permanent structure is provided by olive and bay the top of the site.
trees which are kept in shape with a light clipping twice a year. At >

114 CounTry HomEs & InTErIors