OH, to have been a fly on the wall in 1898 when Henry Avray Tipping first cycled down the steep hill just outside Bradford-on-Avon and saw below him the River Frome, coursing through its pretty Gothic bridge, and, on his right, the buff-stone walls of Iford Manor. He was immediately charmed by 'its splendid hanging woods, its stately terrace walk, its interesting house with so much history in its medley of styles, its pleasant position near the river with its picturesque bridge'. Was he, perhaps, walking up the garden's triple flights of stone steps when it first clicked that this was the very same property that his house-hunting friend, architect Harold.
Peto, had told him about? Worried that the house was too close to the road and river and that the estate was 'overshadowed and overgrown, neglected and decayed', Peto had held back his offer to buy it.
Tipping, soon to become Architectural Editor at COUNTRY LIFE, thought, on the contrary, that 'the faults were overshadowed by the amenities' (COUNTRY LIFE, September 28, 1907). Perhaps his enthusiasm was enough to tip the balance, for, a year later, Peto bought the estate and soon began works on both house and garden. The latter is Italianate in style, with three initial terraces linked by flights of stone steps, along which he placed piers topped with antique statues and urns. Further treasures gathered on his travels are arranged throughout the garden and placed with the same care as a rock in a Japanese garden-of which there is one here, for Peto also journeyed to Japan. His eye was as infallible as his taste. The result is a garden with such atmosphere and beauty that it almost defies description. It remains, as Patrick Taylor declared, in The Oxford Companion to the Garden (2006), 'his most complete and attractive garden'.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 08, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
