A SENSE OF PLACE

A tranquil Sussex garden blends seamlessly with its rural surroundings

STYLE

An Arts & Crafts-influenced garden, set around a traditionalstyle Sussex farmhouse

SEASONS OF INTEREST

Designed to provide interest throughout the year

SIZE

4½ acres, set within meadows

SOIL TYPE

Heavy Wealden clay, improved with organic matter, compost and well-rotted manure

There are occasions in life when you just know instinctively that something is right. Ian Smith and Debbie Roberts of Acres Wild garden design had that feeling when they went to visit the building site of a new house on the Sussex High Weald. “It slopes gently down towards the west and has glorious views over meadows, woodland and distant downland. It was a clean slate and we could see the plot’s potential straightaway,” Ian says. The owner’s brief was simple: “Make us a garden that looks as though it has always been here.” That’s easier to say than to achieve, especially when confronted by vast piles of spoil from newly built house foundations. But Acres Wild enjoy the challenge of what Ian calls invisible design: “We like people to feel that the way you move through a garden is completely natural. The path you’re walking along should feel as though it’s always been there, not something that’s been imposed.” This was especially important at Brightling Down Farm where the house was designed in the vernacular style with reclaimed materials and the garden needed to fit seamlessly around it. Less than 15 years on, it sits comfortably in its rural surroundings. “The owners are not expert gardeners, so,

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Glowing Liquidambar styraciflua underplanted with sedums and grasses; fluffy flowerheads of Pennisetum alopecuroides; Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ leaf shimmers in early morning light OPPOSITE Meandering paths lead...