The English Flower Garden

                                                Gravetye Manor, Sussex

   A sense of decay surrounds me as I wander through the old garden. Created by William Robinson in 1898 this is the first of the new English style of garden that became popular in the post-Victorian era. Instead of formal borders, clipped hedging and topiary is a more relaxed style of planting, where the garden is allowed to reflect the natural forms in the countryside beyond. Perennials spill over the edge of the border and onto the path. The seam at the end of the garden is lost in a soft boundary of blue catmint, rolling down the hill onto open fields. Only a geometrically shaped lawn reminds you that this informality has been created by the hand of man.

   The garden has been reclaimed in recent years and a program of restoration is underway. Bindweed, prolific throughout the garden, is being tamed and with every successful step the borders are returned to the original plan of the master. I visit in October when the summer flowers have lost their colour, save for pumpkin-orange Heleniums contrasting beautifully with the late flowering spires of purple-blue Salvia. Hues of beige and brown are evident all around.

   The garden draws me in, calling me onward and upwards, away from the sixteenth-century manor house and through shrubs thrown together with only the pea-gravel path separating them and defining their boundaries. I chance upon an Azalea, the stems hidden beneath ancient lichen, its leaves red in the autumn rain, underplanted with a sea of Stipa tenuissima, a suggestion of the garden that grew whilst Sleeping Beauty awaited the approach of her handsome prince. At the end of my climb I chance upon the walled garden. It is a marvel, its oval shape placed, it feels, precariously on the side of the hill. I find its curve creates a satisfying walk and allows the kitchen and cutting garden produce to be appreciated together, in one sweeping glance. 

   I follow a sunken pathway, cut into the side of the hill, the flagstones lead me on as though sharing a secret. Indeed it does: I am returned to the house - an archway leads me to the main entrance where I am warmly greeted in time for my lunch. Un-noticed, steps lead down from the sunken path to the kitchen, where the chef will prepare the freshest ingredients offered by one of the four gardeners that day.

Gravetye Manor, Friday, 19th October 2012