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James Alexander-Sinclair has written 8 reviews in 3 countries.
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Gardens in Cotswolds, United Kingdom
It’s not often you find places with moats: not just dry ditches but proper water filled moats with stone bridges and defensive gatehouses. Broughton in Oxfordshire is one of them. The Fiennes family have been there through thick and thin since 1377 - including spells of near despair and great power. There are, of course gardens, notably the Ladies Garden which was laid out in the 1880s on the site of the sixteenth century kitchen. The planting was changed in the 1970s inspired by a visit from Lanning Roper. The original four Fleur de Lys shaped beds are now overflowing with perennials around standard thorn trees. It is also a garden of roses: climbing and shrub roses scramble walls and spill out of borders overlooking immaculate lawns and the ever encircling moat. But even more wonderful than the gardens, however, is the view across perfect rolling pastureland dotted with mature oaks and some of the most contented looking sheep it has ever been my privilege to meet. This is one of the most idyllic spots in England. www.broughtoncastle.com |
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Gardens in Scotland, United Kingdom
Ascog Hall is an interesting building in the Scottish baronial style (turrets and arrow slit windows) ; the views of the Firth of Clyde are good and the climate equable. However, the real reason for going there lies in the garden - a recently rescued, almost unique, glass roofed Victorian fernery. It was originally built when such things were fashionable by a wealthy Glasgow draper called Alexander Bannatyne Stewart but after his death the grandeur faded and the house suffered from neglect. As a result the fernery was forgotten and consumed by undergrowth by the time the current owners stumbled upon it (literally) in 1990. After clearing the accumulated rubbish of the years the basic framework of mosaic paths and sandstone walls became visible but it was not until they came across a copy of the Gardeners’ Chronicle (dated 1879) which contained a detailed description of the place and (even more importantly) a complete inventory of all the ferns that they knew exactly what they had found.
The Fyffes were eventually able to erect a new roof (identical in every way to the original) and the possibility of restoring the structure to its former glory became reality. Amazingly one fern (a thousand year old Todea barbara) had survived and, with the help of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh the rest of the Fernery was fully stocked. Around this extraordinary enterprise the Fyfes are renovating the rest of the gardens.
Originally designed by Edward La Trobe Bateman - who was responsible for part of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens - it too was covered in brambles. Now there are new plantings alongside the original paths, a rose garden and a brand new gravel garden. This garden is a tribute to the energy and enthusiasm of the owners. They have created a totally unique and magical garden where once there was rank decay and bewildering undergrowth. www.ascoghallfernery.co.uk |
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Gardens in New York, United States
I have been here only once: in October as the Autumn began to bite. It was altogether fascinating. Americans garden differently to the British. They are very keen on great platters of colour that would send many tweedier British gardeners guffawing towards the hills. I love a bit of brazenly joyful vulgarity: we only seldom get to see such displays in this country (the one that stands out is the municipal bedding in Moffat; an otherwise indistinguished town in the Scottish borders). When I was there great clipped plates of gaudily coloured chrysanthemums were displayed in large pots, borders of blonde grasses and late perennials overlooked by tall maples whose leaves were turning every shade of flame. The centrepiece is the huge Steinhardt Conservatory which houses aquatic, desert (including those wonderful big round spiny cacti - occasionally known as Mother-in-Law’s Pouffes), orchid, palm and tropical collections. Particularly attractive in the biting cold of a New York winter. Outside there is stuff for every season: cherry walks for spring, a Shakespeare garden for summer romance and the aforementioned trees for Autumn colour. www.bbg.org |
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Gardens in Midlands, United Kingdom
If you love classic English planting and design then you will adore Coton. A honey coloured 17th century stone house surrounded by about ten acres of garden. The original garden was laid out in the 1920s but it has been immeasurably improved since Ian Pasley -Tyler married the very talented plantswoman Susie. They have lived at Coton for years and Susie has completely revitalised all the borders as well as bringing new areas into the garden. There is a new rill that tumbles down the hill through the old orchard, woodland gardens, wildflower meadows, a bluebell wood (of uncanny intensity) and (for the non gardener) a fine selection of ornamental birds ranging from sultry flamingoes to the grandiosely named bantams Millfleurbarbu d’Uccle. There is also a thriving plant centre, restaurant and garden school (which hosts some very distinguished lecturers). |
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Gardens in Scotland, United Kingdom
If you are going to make a special effort to go and see a garden - and the effort involved in getting to somewhere like the isle of Colonsay is not inconsiderable - then it is useful to have other things to see as well. The very charming gardens surrounding Colonsay House have the big advantage of sitting in the middle of one of the most beautiful small islands in the world. Only eight miles long but surrounded by long sandy beaches, sparkling seas, fantastic wildflowers and rolling, sheep speckled hills. True, this is Scotland and the winter weather can turn nasty with 60 mph salty winds whistling across the island but this garden had wise founders who, in the nineteenth century planted a thick barrier of broadleaved woodland around the gardens as a windbreak. This was augmented in the 1930s and, as a result, the gardens are sheltered and capable of supporting many interesting and unusual shrubs. Most of the recent planting was masterminded by Lord Strathcona (the current owner’s father) although the bones of an older, grander garden layout is still visible amongst the woodland - tree ferns, Magnolias and some fantastic species rhododendrons mark the passage of long lost paths while old gates and ponds crop up unexpectedly around corners. Closer to the house the gardens become more domesticated: a well planted and enthusiastic burn (widened and rerouted for the price of a few bottles of whisky), steep and immaculately mown grass terraces and the loggia garden by the house that leads into the more recent Lighthouse garden (centred around the distorting glass of the abandoned lens from the Islay lighthouse - purchased for another couple of bottles a dozen years ago). This is a garden with enough horticulture to satisfy the botanist, relaxed enough to soothe the beginner and exciting enough to thrill the most restless child. |
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