IF you’re an Englishwoman at 50, you either get God or gardening—I got gardening’ is Patricia Elkington’s characteristically self-deprecating explanation for the garden she has created over the past four decades. Yet behind the breezy humour lies a story that mixes chance and good fortune, as well as the development of a particular talent common to so many British women gardeners. Mrs Elkington creates gentle, understated and inherently domestic gardens, where plants are the personalities and encouraged to give of their best and in which everything is included, from the trees that provide shade to the wildlife and the countryside beyond.
It was pure chance that the opportunity to create the garden at Little Court arose at all. In the early 1950s, Patricia’s father spotted that the house was coming up for sale at a local auction. ‘I’ll just go and see what it goes for,’ he reassured his wife, who, not surprisingly, was rather unprepared when he returned home its proud owner. Patricia’s mother was a flower arranger and began the garden, but its creation really dates from 1975, when Patricia and her husband, Andrew, a distinguished opthalmologist, succeeded her parents and moved into Little Court.
The garden is arranged in seven adjoining areas, some of them divided by old flint walls —mostly low, but higher around the walled kitchen garden—all of which appear on a map of 1837. Other than the kitchen garden, however, there is no real sense of division from one area to another and part of Little Court’s charm is the glimpses one gets of one area from another, especially early in the year before the trees have come into leaf.
Denne historien er fra February 05, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra February 05, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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
