A classic garden with a bold twist from Arabella Lennox Boyd
A classic garden with a bold twist from Arabella Lennox Boyd
Hidden away in a secluded Cotswold valley, an elegant, old stone house has been given a worthy setting and married to its landscape by garden designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd
If ever proof were needed of the transformational power of good garden design, this project by Arabella Lennox-Boyd provides it. The Hermitage, a mellow stone house – set in an idyllic landscape of wooded valleys – was in need of a garden that would enhance its beauty and link it harmoniously with its surroundings.
When Arabella first saw the garden, the front of the house was a gravel car park and the rest comprised unconnected areas of paving with steps of differing materials. The layout was too small and intricate and had no real relationship with the house or the landscape. The owners asked Arabella to simplify the garden, replacing it with one that would encircle the house, and they wanted water – possibly using the natural springs that rise on the land. They also needed parking for two or three cars.
In the North Garden, two lawns are separated by yew bastions interplanted with Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’, Verbena bonariensis and Knautia macedonica, with standard wisterias marking the point where the far lawn drops away into the valley.
The herbaceous borders adjoining the North Garden offer expansive views. Planting includes agastache, asters, nepeta and artemisias, with Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea ‘Red Pillar’ providing permanent structure. The borders are enclosed by a semi-circular yew hedge with plantings of hydrangeas and groundcover leading to a woodland walk and small arboretum.
The sunny South Garden borders a quiet lane alongside the house. Existing elements of the old garden were incorporated into the new design, including part of the terrace, a bright-red Japanese acer and a large yew. Water flows over the rim of a stone trough into a sinuous, curving rill.
The pleached crab apples, Malus x zumi ‘Golden Hornet’, planted along the line of the gothic balustrading, give the upper and lower terraces a sense of privacy. A pair of Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’ flank the steps leading to the lower terrace.
The Hermitage is a formal garden of a country house in a wooded valley north of Bath. Measuring 2,400 square metres, the soil is clay-based and slightly alkaline (pH 7.4). In a north-facing location, with damp conditions the frosts can be hard and long lasting. Hardiness zone USDA 9. Planting in the herbaceous borders is in a largely blue palette that includes agastache, asters and agapanthus. See below for key plants from The Hermitage.
Jason Ingram is an award winning garden photographer based in Bristol, UK. He travels widely shooting for magazines, book publishers and advertising agencies. He also works with top international garden designers and Landscape Architects on private projects worldwide.
