MY KIND OF COUNTRY
Landscape architect & gardener Bunny Guinness
Landscape architect and gardener Bunny Guinness loves her corner of Cambridgeshire
Apassion for plants runs in Bunny Guinness’ family. Her uncle is renowned rosarian David Austin, and her mother and cousin both own nurseries. But this heritage almost deterred her from following along that well-trodden garden path. At university, she studied food science, before switching to a subject that could liberate her into the fresh air... horticulture. It proved a good move for the six-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold medallist, Gardeners’ Question Time panellist, and columnist. Working with daughter Unity, she has designed more than 500 gardens around the world. In her own Cambridgeshire backyard, piglets and chickens potter about among roses and box hedges. We joined Bunny, Unity and their two Jack Russells for a glimpse into their very own good life...
TELL US ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE...
It’s a mini manor house, dating back to the 1300s; it’s surrounded by fields and is near the sleepy hamlet of Thornhaugh. The main building has been extended over the centuries, with stone barns and stables added to form a courtyard. A number of doors open onto this space, so house and garden are intertwined – you are never far from foliage.
AND THE GARDEN?
We have topiary, arbours and a ha-ha, where the lawn drops down to fields beyond. We are self-sufficient in vegetables and meat, keeping cows, sheep, pigs and chickens – old breeds that are hardy and beautiful. Strolling around the garden on a summer’s evening, watching the livestock in the meadow, is my idea of happiness.
DID YOU DESIGN IT?
Yes, from scratch. When we moved in, I took two weeks off work. Kevin, my husband, thought I was going to unpack, but I ordered 1,000 tiny native trees and got them in as they were starting to break into leaf. All our yew and box hedges I took from cuttings. These days it’s fairly low maintenance. I work one day a week in the garden and our gardener, Emmeline, does another. The imows, our robotic mowers, give an extra helping hand.
HOW’S THE CLIMATE YOUR WAY?
Annual rainfall here is not dissimilar to that of a desert! We get our water from a spring well, which used to be erratic. One day, no water came out of the tap at all, and we finally discovered that a tree root was blocking the pipe. Gardening got a lot easier once that problem was remedied.
HOW DID YOU BECOME A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT? As a child, I grew up around plant lovers, but when you’re surrounded by a subject, it’s easy to take it for granted. For me, the spark came later, when I was at university in Reading. I opted for food science, which involved lab work and I soon realised it wasn’t for me. I was impressed by a fellow student’s horticulture course, so I swapped. It took six years to become a landscape architect. Unity did the same as me, studying decorative arts, in her case, before changing to landscape architecture. She joined the business four years ago.
WHAT IS THE LARGEST PROJECT YOU’VE WORKED ON...? The Ginga Garden in Japan. This vast eco park, including 24 gardens, was built in a former quarry.
...AND THE SMALLEST? I have done a few balconies. You should go big, not small, with pots. And create interest with paving, by laying it on the diagonal, for example.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FLORA? In summer, delphiniums. Also, Astrantia major ‘Gill Richardson’, with its long-lasting, dark-red flowers. And ‘Ferdinand Pichard’, an old rose with striking crimson stripes.
YOU ARE VERY FOND OF ANIMALS. TELL US ABOUT YOUR LIVESTOCK? We have beautiful Soay sheep – they almost look like fawns and they are very resilient. Unlike modern varieties, they’re not prone to foot rot, they lamb by themselves and their wool is self-shedding. We also keep Dexter cattle. I love the way they watch for the bedroom curtains to open each morning in anticipation of a feed. We also have two piglets, Quercus and Queenie. When I’m sitting outside, they will sunbathe beside me, and they love to have their tummies tickled. And, of course, we have chickens.
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT BEING A SMALLHOLDER IS A BED OF ROSES – IS THIS TRUE FOR YOU? The first time your animals go for the chop is hard, but you just have to get used to that. Seeing our pigs forage for windfall apples, quinces, worms, bugs and roots is a lovely
sight. I feel so sad for commercial livestock kept on concrete. We make our own sausages, bacon and ham, and enjoy beautiful roasts – our meat is incredibly flavoursome.
HOW DO YOU JUGGLE WORK AND FAMILY LIFE? Badly! My family has banned me from using my mobile phone in the house. When Unity and my son, Freddie, were small and I was building up the business, it could be chaotic. I remember taking them along to a client’s house, where they were caught raiding the fridge!
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL WEEKEND. Cooking with the family – a homegrown, home-cooked meal – or at friends’ houses. I prefer that to eating out.
WHERE DO YOU BUY YOUR FOOD? Hambleton Bakery in the nearby town of Stamford – it sells handmade artisan bread and cakes. We also buy raw milk from FW Read & Sons at the market there.
WHERE DO YOU GET UNIQUE TREASURES FOR THE GARDEN? Very rarely off the peg. I usually get benches, ornaments and structures from Ebay or from Batemans auctioneers in Stamford.
I also have a long list of amazing local people who make bespoke items to commission. In London, such craftsmanship would be astronomical. Here, it’s often less expensive than the shops.
NAME THE BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN YOUR AREA. Stamford’s bustling market and, just outside the town, the magnificent Burghley House, with gardens designed by my one of my heroes, Capability Brown.