More gardens of the English West Country 

Many tourists, to the UK, seem to aim towards the far south-west of England to explore Devon and Cornwall. This is indeed sensible because by visiting London, and the associated highly developed and soft region, and then moving to our West Country with its rugged cliffs, old fishing villages and stark upland National Parks one can gain a good overall impression of the country. Annette and I had a short break in the south-west, based on Plymouth, this last month and enjoyed some wonderful locations. Our main objective was to investigate The Garden House, a private garden trust, rated as one of the top ten gardens in the UK. I regret that camera failure has resulted in no images, but you may care to visit: www.thegardenhouse.org.uk. On the web site you can view all the garden’s features. The Garden House was indeed worth the journey. The South African, prairie garden, was especially interesting whilst the newly replanted Walled Garden, that was built on the site of a medieval vicarage, was the most beautiful. Two other good reasons for visiting this particular garden, especially on a Thursday, are 1) Excellent food and 2) Keith Wiley’s Wildside garden and nursery (featured in this column last year and only open once a week) is only a mile down the road. 

Near to The Garden House is Buckland Abbey (National Trust;  www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-bucklandabbey) the former home of Sir Francis Drake, favourite of Queen Elizabeth First, and scourge of the Spanish. This property had a medieval and herb garden but is visited primarily for the house and the lovely walks around the estate. We also visited Killerton House (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-killerton/ ) which has a costume collection, parkland and beautiful formal lawns and borders.

The other S-W garden that I would especially recommend, and a good contrast in style to those above, is Hestercombe near Taunton. Stourhead, on the A303 route to London, would also be another ‘must see’ garden style.

(See cider, below, for added diversions.) 

Forest Edge.

The very wet summer continues, with parts of the country having record rainfall figures for August. Chez-moi the moist and friable lawn soil has allowed the subterranean moles a good opportunity to plough the main lawn. This is normally impossible due to the concrete nature of the soil in dry August. The lawn is very green, growing well but appears as if African warthogs have attacked it!

Our shrub and flower borders remain filled with vegetation and flowers. Happily the Plymouth excursion has given us good evidence of our meadow’s worth. We visited two wild flower meadows, established on their mildly acidic soils, and both had long completed their flowering period. Our meadow remains in rich colour and, when the weather allows, covered in butterflies and alive with grasshoppers and crickets. Yes, we can sit back and feel smug!

Our bean crops, in the raised vegetable bed, are cropping amazingly. The plants love moisture and have been grown in soil enriched with major quantities of mashed up wood to further hold water. Slugs and snails have also appreciated the moisture, so some hostas we have encountered look as though shotgun pellets have hit them.  

Ginger lilies.
My collection of non-flowering ginger lilies is growing in size and diversity. But however I cultivate the plants they have the same attractive green leaves…never an attractive and aromatic flower. What am I doing wrong? Help! Tips required.  

Rabbits!
The rabbit population in our garden is blissfully low at the moment, as we have a resident stoat. Whilst we encounter the stoat visually occasionally it is often indicated by the ‘ground predator warning cries’ uttered by some of the resident birds. But rabbits were often much, much more important.
Within recorded history there is detail of large and important warrens scattered around the UK. Even in a remote, upland spot such as Dartmoor there were at least 20 productive warrens. The rabbits were bred for meat and fur, the latter used for hats, gloves and trimmings. As late as the 1950s my father, and many other working chaps, kept rabbits to help out the family resources. Today meat rabbits are rare.
Rabbits dislike water hence rivers and streams could be employed, with stout walls on the dry side, to keep the population in one location. Due to the high water table in The West Country artificial burrows were supplied, complete with entrance holes and drainage channels. The stoat, which I so appreciate around the garden, was then a deadly enemy and was fiercely controlled. Captured rabbits were eaten locally, but some were transported as far as London.

Vegetables and Fruit

The sale of vegetable seeds is now exceeding the sale of flower seeds in the UK. Vegetable plots are like gold dust and there are long waiting lists for public plots (called allotments.). Yet there is little interest in people rushing out to purchase fruit trees or bushes. This may be a reflection on the cooking programmes that dominate daytime TV that, I’m reliably informed, seldom push fruit recipes. It could also be a manifestation on the crop yield and space required to grow fruit.
Here I only currently have a small vegetable plot, but the beans, tomatoes, courgette and lettuces are yielding a great crop. The blackcurrants are always 100% consumed by wildlife and spring snow destroyed all my damson and plum flowers, resulting in a zero crop. A couple of semi-wild apples grow on the garden’s fringe, but these have long since grown beyond reach and the fruit is donated to the squirrels and birds.
The only soft fruit success is a strawberry tower. My previous version was unsuccessful but this one has an inbuilt water reservoir and has given us excellent berries for such young plants. I’m hopeful of tonnes of red gems next year!
Garden centres always have an eye for the next sales campaign. My guess is that 2009 will be the year of the mini-fruit tree boom. 

The interest in cider orchards is on the increase. The west country of the UK has always been a region where cider drinking dominated, whilst beer predominated elsewhere. Alcoholic drinks were consumed routinely by everyone, as they were free of most bacterial contaminants, so were safer than water. With safe tap water, and advertising pressures, cider and the cider apple orchards were no longer viable and both fell into decline. Today we better understand both the value of regional products, and of the bird and floral richness of permanent orchards. So orchards are again on the up. These old, or newly replanted, orchards should be economically efficient. They generate a unique regional product of often high cash value, the grasslands beneath the trees can be grazed and the cider factories and distilleries are great tourist attractions. And I can reliably inform you that some of the liquids produced are magnificent: I currently have a major part** of one cider distillery’s output stored away here. Pop in for a drink sometime.
** Kingston Black Apple Aperitif. See www.ciderbrandy.co.uk.

[However any Aussi wine growers reading this should have no fears for the immediate future … but you just wait, the UK Gold Medal tally from the Olympics is just the start of a real fight back!] 

My best wishes to you all. 

Feedback is always appreciated.

David Beeson

Feedback always welcome: david@forest-edge.co.uk

Illustrations from top to bottom:

1: Prairie meadow-style planting in Devon. This is at Wildside garden.
2: Weir House, Hampshire employs angled box hedges to great effect. Something to copy?
3: A laurel maze. This maze is said to be the largest in the UK. It is planted near to Forest Edge, but I had little desire to get lost in it!
4: A mini maze generated using white daffodils. Mazes are increasingly being planted in gardens and some are made from commercial sweet corn fields.