A Garden of Two Halves

From the moment I stepped through the rather unusual entrance gates I knew that this garden was different. I was intrigued and keen to find out more as very little is given away on first impressions.

Owned by a renouned designer and his wife, this is a garden of two distinct halves each gardened by a very different personality and each with it's own individual feel and design.

Although a garden of two halves there are other parts to this garden, one of which comprises traditional lawn and very tall topiary that surrounds the house itself. In many places this is edged with lavender and there is a large silver sculpture in the centre of the lawn which is a nod to the design background of the owner.

The best parts of the garden are hidden away behind this cloud shaped hedging and each reveals itself to you one at a time. You are led through the garden and this journey starts where the cloud topiary ends. At the beginning, the garden leads you, by a gradual narrowing of the lawn, to the end of the topiary garden and the entrance to the designer's garden beyond.

The first of the hidden gardens belongs to John Makepeace, the award winning funiture designer, maker and teacher.

This garden is very design orientated and quite modern in feel with lots of grasses, a pond and a striking summerhouse which appears to float at the edge of the pond and is accessed by a wooden walk way.

The whole feel here is contemporary and minimal. There are many different grasses which give structure and movement to the garden.

Much thought and consideration has been made to choose varities which have a range of different heights and colour. The garden has a relaxed, meditative and peaceful feeling to it and gives interest through every season.

When we first arrived at the garden John explained a little about his long career in design, wood and furniture making. He showed us his woodstore which was something quite special containing wood from trees that had fallen in a storm at Kew Gardens, London.

It's not surprising therefore to find wood features quite dramatically in John's own part of the garden. The wooden walk ways are expertly designed as is the stone and wood summerhouse which is the centrepiece and main focal point of his garden.

The summerhouse has full height windows on two sides and beautiful furniture but also a doorway leading on to the other garden which belongs to his wife, Jenny. Just like the topiary garden John's design garden leads you unwittingly from beginning to end.

It was easy to imagine yourself spending hours in this beautiful setting. It's the perfect spot for reading or just emptying your mind and relaxing either on a warm summer day with the doors open and the grasses gently swaying in the breeze or in the midst of Winter wrapped up well and watching the garden blanketed in snow. This garden works whatever the season.

As I walked through the Summerhouse to Jenny's garden I stopped to take one last look. The back of the summerhouse is curved in stone and surrounded with much taller grasses through which you can just glimpse the curves of the pond and the curved bridge beyond, both mirroring the curve of the summerhouse itself.

Straight lines and curves have been used to great effect both in the architecture and the planting of the garden all depending on the angle of observation. The grasses pull everything together and the overall scheme has been cleverly thought out. This isn't just a garden, it's a spectacular example of design.

Jenny's garden is a complete contrast to John's but it is also quite separate and so the two work side by side but hidden from one another.

As you leave John's summerhouse behind you find yourself on a gravel pathway flanked on one side by a tall wall and framed by huge trees on the skyline. This is a potager, cottage, cutting, fruit and vegetable garden all in one.

Wood also features in this garden - there is a beautiful fruit frame, many wooden edges to the planting areas and a stunning glasshouse as well as Jenny's garden studio which also features wood and well thought out design.

The garden is full and brimming over with Summer flowering roses, geraniums, foxgloves, lupins and many other cottage garden type plants.

Jenny's seating area is a simple metal table with chairs situated in the middle of the garden complete with a contrasting coloured parasol. Rusted metal rebars had been used as plant supports or curved into garden arches and these fitted in perfectly to the artisan feel of her garden.

There were rustic design features such as the old beer barrel complete with weathered teracotta pots which doubled as a water butt and sat in front of a wooden framed small pond complete with beautiful pink water lily.

This garden had a wild and abandonded feel with plants allowed to spill over into the gravel pathways or self seed whereever they felt happiest.

Pots were placed throughout the garden to add colour and interest away from the planting beds themselves. The whole place is a profusion of life and colour which became overwhelming in a beautiful mind numbing way.

This was a real working garden and the greenhouse was full of seed trays whilst the cold frames were all full of more tender looking plants. It's clear that Jenny is a plantswoman and not afraid to experiment with propagation, seed sowing and taking cuttings of plants.

A glimpse inside the studio showed that Jenny, just like John, had her own contemplative garden space. Here she was working on pottery and there was a very cluttered and artsy feel to her studio - just like her garden, but in total contrast to the grass modernist garden and summerhouse of John's.

At the edge of this garden were some weathered oak gates which signalled the end of the garden and the beginning of something else - an old orchard and meadow area. Again the gates drew your attention away from the cottage garden to the expectation of something beyond - so the end an beginning was yet again expertly curated.

The meadow area was the last part of the garden and even here there was contrast - a grey wolf sculpture sat in this part of the garden alongside the geese who waddled around oblivious to their sculpted companion.

As we wandered in the meadow there was one last treat in store - this beautiful bee orchid, Ophrys apifera, was flowering just beneath one of the old apple trees.

A wonderful surprise and a reminder of just how special the Makepeace garden is. Definately a garden to put on your own garden wishlist.

Guineveres Garden | Garden Writer