THE best gardens are those that add up to more than the sum of their parts and this is especially so at Backhouse Rossie in Fife, home to Caroline and Andrew Thomson since 2005. On one level, visitors can wander happily through the 10 acres of walled garden and woodlands; dig a little deeper, however, and you find art, science, history and horticulture are represented here in happy coalescence.
Perhaps the most striking manifestation of such thoughtfulness is the wide path that crosses the 1½-acre walled garden from east to west. It represents the double helix of DNA, using granite setts recycled from the streets of Edinburgh (an hour to the south), after they were removed during works on the city’s new tram system. The background is filled in with crushed white cockle shells, which refer to Cave 13b in South Africa, where the presence of discarded shells is regarded as one of the earliest signs of civilisation. On a more personal note, the couple’s son Hamish was surfing nearby at the time, so their use was a reminder of him.
Denne historien er fra August 23, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 23, 2023-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
Give it some stick
Galloping through the imagination, competitive hobby-horsing is a gymnastic sport on the rise in Britain, discovers Sybilla Hart
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Mary I: more bruised than bloody
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A love supreme
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Private views
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Shhhhhh...
THERE is great delight to be had poring over the front pages of COUNTRY LIFE each week, dreaming of what life would be like in a Scottish castle (so reasonably priced, but do bear in mind the midges) or a townhouse in London’s Eaton Square (worth a king’s ransom, but, oh dear, the traffic) or perhaps that cottage in the Cotswolds (if you don’t mind standing next to Hollywood A-listers in the queue at Daylesford). The estate agent’s particulars will give you details of acreage, proximity to schools and railway stations, but never—no, never—an indication of noise levels.
Mission impossible
Rubble and ruin were all that remained of the early-19th-century Villa Frere and its gardens, planted by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere, until a group of dedicated volunteers came to its rescue. Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe tells the story
When a perfect storm hits
Weather, wars, elections and financial uncertainty all conspired against high-end house sales this year, but there were still some spectacular deals
Give the dog a bone
Man's best friend still needs to eat like its Lupus forebears, believes Jonathan Self, when it's not guarding food, greeting us or destroying our upholstery, of course
