Creative destruction

The felling of seven mature beech in the storms of 1987 offered the chance to make a rare and charming garden, says George Plumptre

- George Plumptre

MANY gardens in the South-East of England were all but destroyed by the famous storm of October 1987. For some, such as Moleshill House, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At a stroke, seven mature beech and oak trees were felled, opening up a garden that had been cramped and starved of light. The loss provided relief to the thin, sandy soil, too, from which the trees had drained moisture and nutrients.

Moleshill’s owner, Penny Snell, had only moved from London a few months earlier, so it was something of a baptism of fire. As her long career at the National Garden Scheme (NGS) and her spirited development of the Moleshill garden have both shown, however, Mrs Snell is tenacious and adventurous, not easily put off by a bit of bad weather.

When she took on being county organiser of the NGS in the early 1980s, there were 32 gardens opening in the whole Greater London area and her predecessor said breezily: ‘Don’t worry, all you’ll have to do is write a few letters.’ Nearly 40 years and many thousands of letters later, there are 300 gardens opening in London, Mrs Snell is still the county organiser and she has served a distinguished term as the charity’s chair.