Iconic gardens
"Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus." David Hockney
Below is a short list of iconic gardens of the British Isles. By this we mean gardens which are not simply very enjoyable and entertaining, or which contain interesting plants and plant associations, but ones that have taken their particular genre forward or transformed it in some way. These are significant gardens, whether because of a long-lasting reputation, or that they epitomise a certain time, place or movement.
We have only included gardens that are extant and open to the public. The list is not definitive and we will publish the best letters/emails on the subject. We will include gardens from other countries in time.
Stowe,
Buckinghamshire (www.nationaltrust.org.uk)
Hestercombe, Somerset (www.hestercombegardens.com)
'Classical, "Moorish" Arts and Crafts vernacular;
it sounds like a mess but Aunt Bumps and Ned (yes, their real nicknames) made
a whole new language out of it.' Tim Richardson
Lyveden New Bield, Northamptonshire (www.nationaltrust.org.uk)
Landform Ueda, Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
(www.nationalgalleries.org)
Portrack, Dumfriesshire (www.gardensofscotland.org)
Gibberd
Garden, Essex (www.thegibberdgarden.co.uk)
'Although the garden contains many works of art, you are
continually surprised and delighted by its many childlike touches.' Sara Maitland
Hawkstone, Shropshire (www.nationaltrust.org.uk)
Little
Sparta, South Lanarkshire (www.littlesparta.co.uk)
'Little Sparta is a place that is the antithesis of a
"nice" garden in the Yellow Book sense, and long may it prosper.'
Tim Richardson
Prospect
Cottage, Dungeness
'I personally had never considered that gardening could
ever be considered an art form, but what Jarman created here is nothing but
art, albeit more challenging to construct and maintain as it is an art that
continually changes and grows.' Nick Chapman, Spike
Magazine.jpg)
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Rousham, Oxfordshire
(www.gardenvisit.com/garden/rousham_house_and_garden)
Clearbeck, Lancashire
'One of the most personal and individual gardens we have
seen, which none the less feels free of deliberate or provocative "eccentricity".'
Sara Maitland
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Veddw, Monmouthshire (www.veddw.co.uk)
'Anne Wareham is creating a garden that is both original
and deeply embedded in its specific location, and in the whole history of
gardening itself.' Sara Maitland
Iford
Manor, Wiltshire (www.ifordmanor.co.uk)
'Harold Peto’s own garden.
Precious, other-wordly, an amalgam of Renaissance fragments. The garden is
characterful too.' Tim Richardson
Folly Farm, Berkshire (www.gardenvisit.com/garden/folly_farm_garden)
Stourhead, Wiltshire (www.nationaltrust.org.uk)
Levens Hall, Cumbria (www.levenshall.co.uk)
'... it is the abstract parts which stay
in the mind, and which have, in their old age, metamorphosed from an historical
relic into a Modernist living garden ... Gardens like Levens are the antidote
to Arts and Crafts fuss.' Stephen Anderton
Thames Barrier Park, London
(www.lda.gov.uk/server/show/nav.001002009001)
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire (www.waddesdon.org.uk) (Small).jpg)
East Lambrook Manor, Somerset (www.eastlambrook.com)
'Margery Fish was obviously a good egg. A good down-to-earth
egg. The type of egg who made a prototype pseudo-cottage garden that hit the
spot for millions.' Tim Richardson
Denmans, West Sussex (www.denams-garden.co.uk).jpg)
Great Dixter, East Sussex (www.greatdixter.co.uk)
The Laskett, Herefordshire.
(tour available: www.border-lines.co.uk)
Walled garden at Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire
With thanks to Charles Hawes, Anne Wareham (www.veddw.co.uk) Anne Guy (www.anneguygardendesigns.co.uk) and Peter Matthews (www.petermatthews.co.uk) for use of photographs.
Quotations: Tim Richardson, from Garden Design Journal, where he writes a great column; Sara Maitland from Gardens of Illusion (with Peter Matthews) Cassell 2000 ISBN-0304-35434-1 (a very thinkingardens book) and Stephen Anderton from Gardens of Inspiration (there was a lot of it about) ed. Erica Hunningher, BBC 2001 ISBN 0-563-55176-3.
If anyone can offer us free images of the unillustrated gardens we would be very grateful: email: info@thinkingardens.co.uk