“Our colourful garden is a place to unwind” A scruffy lawn and rough meadow have been transformed into a series of plant-filled rooms
A scruffy lawn and meadow have been lovingly transformed into a series of plant-filled rooms. Owners Susan and Doug Copeland show us around
“The former owner... buried old fridges and washing machines in the garden!”
Voluptuous planting makes it easy to lose yourself in this plantpacked paradise in rural Essex. “We went for a generous planting scheme to help keep the weeds at bay,” explains garden owner Susan Copeland. “It also helps to hide one part of the garden from the next – I don’t like to see the whole garden all at once.” When Susan and her husband Doug moved here in 1990, the garden consisted of an acre of scruffy lawn and an acre of rough meadow. “It was a green desert on a foundation of clay – and white goods. The former owner was a developer who’d come up with the great idea of burying old fridges and washing machines in the garden!” After excavating all the white goods, getting overhead powerlines diverted around the garden was an easy matter. “As a professional chartered surveyor, Doug told me it would be impossible to have them moved,” says Susan. “That was all the motivation I needed. They were gone within the year!” One of the next jobs was to put in a windbreak of hedges. “This kept the rest of the garden nice and sheltered from the prevailing winds,” says Susan. “Then we tackled the heavy, poordraining clay soil,” adds Doug. “We won the battle largely by putting in drains with soak-aways, and by digging out the clay in the borders and replacing it with Tony’s Tonic from Madingley Mulch – it’s a mixture of compost, black fen soil and grit.
Now I dig in an annual dressing of wellrotted manure and wood shavings.” Today the garden unfolds as a series of separate areas, each with its own character. “You start off in the gravel garden then pass a stone figure into a small courtyard with a fountain and containers,” says Susan. “Here we grow fragrant clematis ‘Princess Diana’ over an archway, which leads into a lawned area and borders stuffed with hundreds of David Austin roses. Past the summerhouse you reach our ‘Darcey Bussell’ border, named after the red roses that grow there. Beyond is an avenue of silver birches that frame a magnificent view. Well, magnificent for Essex!” The walk back leads over the pond via a small bridge. “There’s a tiny gate in the hedge that leads to a short woodland walk to a second meadow, which contains a parterre, a riot of lupins, specimen trees and a shepherd’s hut.” “The hut is the place of ultimate tranquillity because you can’t see a single gardening job from it,” laughs Doug. “It’s where Susan and I go to relax and unwind.” The couple’s latest idea is to plant a
“The hut is the place of ultimate tranquillity because you can’t see a single gardening job from it”
‘sapphire border’, in celebration of their 45th wedding anniversary. “We bought loads of blue-flowered plants in containers, which we’ve just plunged direct into the bed,” says Doug. “It works well if you have plants that can’t survive in heavy clay. I’ve done it all over the garden with alliums.” The new border will be a fitting tribute to a couple working in perfect gardening harmony. “We’ve got a system” says Doug. “Like with weeding. I do it, then Susan follows along and does it properly!”