MY new discovery is Berberis. They are very unpleasant to touch and you don’t want to look at them for most of the year, but, in the autumn, they are absolutely covered in fruit and turn orange, yellow and red—every colour imaginable.’
It is the beginning of November and the landscape designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd is sitting in her Lancashire studio. Directly below her, the rushing water of Artle Beck runs up to the walls of Gresgarth Hall, the castellated sandstone house that has been home to her and her husband, Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd, since 1978. On the opposite bank is a richly textured tapestry of carefully selected trees and shrubs in every shade of green, with sudden pools of coral or claret and dancing spatters of yellow.
She describes the end-of-year show, which starts with the glowing lakeside Cercidiphyllum japonicum, the first tree to colour, and continues to towering spires of liquidambar, the last to fire up in the inspirational 10 acres. There are glorious specimens of Cornus kousa—any that develop dark-burgundy leaves are much favoured and will be duly propagated—and magnolias that offer wonderfully buttery shades. Bridging the gap between the more structured parts of the garden closer to the house and the wilder feel as you move away from it is her ‘short avenue of tulip trees’: a light-catching glade of Liriodendron tulipifera, on the spreading branches of which thousands of butter-yellow tulip-shaped leaves shift and flutter in the breeze.
Esta historia es de la edición October 26, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición October 26, 2022 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery