HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

A mix of American-style planting and English cottage garden staples brings a unique beauty to five acres of stunning Sussex gardens

- NICOLA STOCKEN

However many times Andrew and Karty draw back their curtains, they never tire of the view beyond. Coppices and meadows stretch away in the distance, while closer to home lie lawns surrounded by spectacular prairie-style borders. ‘We’ve created a contemporary garden with naturalistic planting that blends into the countryside without the abrupt stop that would come from an enclosed, formal scheme,’ explains Karty.

The couple moved from London to the village of Hellingly in the heart of the Sussex weald 30 years ago, won over by the pretty Georgian house and five acres of surrounding land. While there were some magnificent trees, the garden was rather neglected. ‘There were tired herbaceous and rose borders, an overgrown azalea bed and some sickly rhododendrons,’ she recalls.

In the early years, their three young children took priority and it was not long before the old azalea bed was grassed over to provide an area for cricket and football. Some years later, the couple asked a well-known local garden designer, Guy Pollard, to create a scheme of curving borders to fill with plants that would survive the heavy clay and buffeting from the prevailing wind. ‘We both love the prairie-style planting and felt that a mix of ornamental grasses and perennials would sit beautifully within our traditional setting,’ says Karty.

The lower side of the borders is protected by curving hornbeam screens, while beyond there is a wildflower meadow planted with native crab apples. ‘We needed some form of informal boundary to create a transition between the garden and fields beyond, and a native hedge does this so subtly,’ explains Karty. A bench is a favourite place to sit and view the borders as they wend their way up the slope, closing in on a sculpture set amid orange cosmos and blue Russian sage.