IMAGINE standing in a garden for the first time and trying to work out what it can become. Will it be minimal or traditional? Will the planting be cottagey, Mediterranean or jungly? How is the garden going to be used? By children and dog show many and how boisterous? Should there be a vegetable garden? Are the clients sociable or reclusive? Do they like gardening? This last one seems pretty obvious, but designers often have to make gardens for people who are neither knowledgeable nor keen. Some are scared witless by the idea of a garden and it is the designer's job to stroke the fevered brow, spread calm where there is panic and reassurance where there are misgivings. Lots of questions must be answered before the business of creating a garden can begin-and it is immediately apparent that the design of this garden near Godalming has been well thought through.
The designer Pollyanna Wilkinson stood in this garden for the first time about four years ago. She was surrounded by a few mature trees and a large expanse of very dull lawn. That is not to say that lawn does not have a place in a garden-in the same way that carrots have a place on a menu― but to have nothing except lawn (or, indeed, carrots) can become a trifle dull. There she stood, scratching her head and hunting for the essence, the spirit, the inspiration beneath the surface. What was it that would provide a strong enough theme upon which she could hang the design of the garden? The answer lay, as is so often the case, in the architecture of the house. In this case, the house is quite quirky with pegged tiles and Bargate stone walls. 'In the end,' she explains, 'we based it on the distinctive round chimney, which gave us a good starting point for the formal/not formal feel that I was after.'
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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
