Very much a cut above

Harvard Farm, Halstock, Dorset When topiarist Jake Hobson brought his sculpturally inspired techniques to bear on his mother’s evergreens, the results were unforgettable.

- Non Morris

THE making of the garden at Harvard Farm is a story of two generations of gardeners who, after years of pursuing separate paths, began to work together with delightful results. First is Dilly Hobson, who moved to Dorset more than 25 years ago with her artist husband, Tim, to renovate a farmhouse on a windswept hill—her goal was to make a garden from scratch after the children had left home. Second is their son, Jake, who travelled to Japan after his Fine Art degree and fell in love with the Japanese approach to gardens, not least with the exacting and passionate approach to pruning and training trees and shrubs so that they sit happily in a garden context.

Their two or so acres now form a sheltered haven, a much-loved family garden with a backbone of strong organic shapes that adds definition to the planting, frames views to the next part of the garden and links the whole to the rolling hills and hedgerows of the countryside beyond.

‘The first time we saw the place,’ says Dilly, ‘I knew the kind of garden I wanted, but I hadn’t taken on board the challenge of its position. It was only when I started work that I realised it how difficult it would be. At times, the wind was so strong you could barely stand up.’

Planting a shelterbelt of broadleaf natives away from the house was the first priority and, over the next seven years, as the house was renovated, the garden slowly evolved around it.