Not a straight line in sight!
The owners of this quirky mature Northamptonshire garden went for curves to create a well-planned plot that 'merges and flows'
Beryl and Keith Norman’s garden is well known in their home town of Desborough in Northamptonshire. “It’s ‘the one with the boat',’” says Beryl. The vessel in question is a 3.6m (12ft) long, wooden clinker boat, and she spotted it sitting on the back of a lorry by the roadside in 2004. “I’d always wanted one as a garden feature, so I took down the telephone number and contacted the owner. He sold it to us and delivered it on a tractor. Every summer, we fill her with boxes of bright geraniums. She’s an old lady now, but I keep varnishing and protecting her as best I can!”
The boat is not the only quirky feature in this garden. There’s also a bright blue brick feature wall and a vivid yellow wheelbarrow planter. There’s no lawn, but there are five raised beds at different heights, which are used throughout the year to grow glorious multi-coloured sweet peas, dahlias and jewel-bright zinnias, plus grasses and hellebores. Despite the shots of colour, the space has a calming, Japanese feel, thanks in part to a pond and 20 acers, one of the couple’s favourite plants.
You won’t find spring bulbs in this garden, apart from a few bright daffodils in pots. “We’re not a traditional garden,” says Beryl. “The first blooms will be the sweet peas. But there’s yearround interest and a cohesion through the seasons.”
When the couple moved in to the property, there was little to inspire them. “It was a long, flat plot with a steel reinforced path
down the left-hand side, surrounded by conifers. The bottom area and side garden were both very unkempt.” After struggling to make an impression on it, they took drastic action. “One day Keith said he loved the garden, but hated mowing the lawn, so I told him we should dig it up! I sketched out an idea on paper and Keith has translated it into what you see now.” Paving the area was a big step, but one they’ve never regretted. “We used recycled paving slabs, which we used broken-side out. They’ve weathered over time to give a stone effect. One problem we had was the garden falls about three feet from right to left, so we had to build some retaining walls, which meant digging out a number of enormous conifers, including all the roots.” Though the garden is paved, it’s full of plants and softness, partly down to the shaped curved beds.
“I’m not one for straight lines,” says Beryl. “Curves mirror nature and help the garden to merge and flow.”
In 1998, the couple dug a pond and created a stream. This was done by Keith, including the electrics and piping for the water features. “Everything has evolved over time because we both had full time jobs; Keith made shoes and I was a midwife,” says Beryl. “But we devoted our evenings and weekends to it.”
Colour's important to both of them. Keith has a particular passion for sweet peas, raising them from seed in the greenhouse and planting them in a raised bed by a majestic blue fir tree, which they planted shortly after moving in. “The sweet peas will be there until the end of July, then we’ll strip out the bed and replace them with pots and bedding plants,” says Beryl. This year, they’ve sourced some new varieties from Easton Walled Gardens, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, which holds a popular annual Sweet Pea Week (July 5-12, 2020).
During summer, Keith and Beryl are in the garden as much as possible, usually only pausing to rest when they eat outside. “There’s a great maturity to this garden now, it feels at home with itself,” explains Beryl. “As we open for the NGS twice a year, we’re always tweaking it – but we get so much enjoyment from it, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”