Made in design A sustainable garden on the coast of north Cornwall with a painterly approach painterly

Designer Conrad Batten has brought a painterly style to the gardens of a former rectory, with sustainability at the fore

Perched on sloping ground, just above a small, wooded valley and surrounded by rolling Cornish countryside, sits a striking Victorian house, known locally as the Old Rectory. Designed in 1858 by the notable British architect, William Butterfield, a prominent exponent of the Gothic Revival, the house was used as a rectory right up until the early 1970s, and in 1988 it was given Grade II listed status, meaning it has remained largely unchanged. Nine years ago the current owners brought in garden designer Conrad Batten to renovate the area around the house, organise the driveway, and to create a dining terrace on the western elevation. The house was hemmed in by woodland, which on one hand grounded the building, but on the other was quite oppressive. The owners wanted to open the area up to access more light, air and space. They also wanted more formality and topiary in the garden. However, as Conrad points out, the house is just one and a half miles inland from Mawgan Porth on Cornwall’s north coast and so the woodland offered an element of much-needed shelter. His challenge was to release the sharp lines of the Gothic rectory from the woodland and wed the house within the surrounding Cornish countryside.

Work on the project began slowly and carefully. Wishing to avoid an abrupt, heavy-handed approach, Conrad worked closely with the owners, evolving the design, forging the trust for the future garden. He added clipped myrtle and teucrium to the garden at the front of the house, which brought structure and formality and helped, as Conrad explains, “to firm the house in the garden”. Snaking, dry stone-effect, retaining walls were constructed using a slate stone from the local quarries of Trecarne and Delabole that creates a hard and

The challenge was to release the sharp lines of the rectory from the woodland and wed the house within the Cornish countryside

fast link between house and garden. The snaking, sinuous walls echo the lithe curves of the countryside beyond the garden.

Along the drive Conrad installed six pairs of parasol hollies, which not only create a sense of rhythm and formality, but as they also take inspiration from the quatrefoil motif found on the fireplaces inside the rectory, develop even further the link between house and garden. The hollies are underplanted with a carpet medley of the white-flowered Rosa Susan Williams-Ellis (= ‘Ausquirk’), Geranium nodosum and Allium sphaerocephalon.

The finer planting throughout the garden is characteristic of a naturalistic, free-flowing, yet adventurous style and creates an exciting contrast to the more static structure and solidity of the clipped forms. Pip Vaughan, the head gardener for eight years has nurtured this style, creating an intricate ecological resilience. Plantings also provide a reassuring link with the meadows beyond the garden. There is an experimental touch to Conrad’s gardening, pushing the limits of what can be successfully grown in the north Cornwall climate, including quite a few Mediterranean plants. Citrus trees have recently been planted taking advantage of the intense Cornish sunshine and free-draining soils. Throughout the borders there is fusion between wildflowers, ornamentals and edibles. In the carefully choreographed borders in the walled garden, roses,

Planting throughout the garden is characteristic of a naturalistic, free-flowing, yet adventurous style

thalictrums, and poppies sit cheek by jowl with asparagus, black, white and red currants and are underplanted with chamomile and strawberries. Herb beds are planted with thyme, sorrel and garlic chives. The owners requested that there should be no yellow, orange, or salmon-coloured flowers in the garden, and so the mood is set with white, pinks, reds and blues. Again, Conrad has sought to provoke a conversation between the house and garden, taking inspiration from the house’s architect. “Butterfield would include colour in his buildings, with flashes here and there,” he explains. In answer to this Conrad has used an almost impressionistic style of planting, or as he describes it, having a “painterly flicking of colour throughout”.

In 2014, there was a second push to develop the garden. Tracing the curve of the hill, a steel estate fence was installed which now divides the top meadow into two, and a native apple orchard has now been planted. “It was pretty risky,” admits Conrad. “It is very exposed on this higher elevation – we can see the coast here.” But the risk has paid off. “The trees are leaning, and that’s nice, they have a windswept shape, linking to the sea and rooting them in place.” The orchard has also been planted with native cherries, using local cultivars sourced from near Bodmin, such as ‘Early Birchenhayes’ and ‘Burcombe’. Elsewhere in the garden, more tender fruit trees, including peaches and apricots, are tucked next to the walls, taking advantage of microclimates.

Gardens on Cornwall’s north coast are limited in number – and for good reason. The growing conditions present a series of challenges and can be quite harsh. But, with good plant husbandry and an artistic flare, Conrad Batten has created a very beautiful and unique Cornish flower garden at the Old Rectory.

The owners requested no yellow, orange, or salmon-coloured flowers, so the mood is set with white, pinks, reds and blues

Close to the Victorian rectory, concentric beds, within the circular kitchen garden, are filled with a mix of wildflowers, ornamentals and edibles, with painterly splashes of colour from Papaver somniferum. Fruit trees, including apricots ‘Flavourcot’ and ‘Tomcot’, and peach ‘Avalon Pride’, have been trained against the walls.

Right Much of the garden is built on a slope, with retaining walls – constructed by Devon-based stonemason Steve Compton using Cornish slate stone from local quarries – helping to differentiate between formal and wilder areas. On the front lawn, clipped Myrtus communis and Teucrium fruticans ‘Drysdale’ add structure to the planting. In keeping with the owners’ wishes, the colour palette here is mostly white, blue and red, with Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’ and L. angustifolia ‘ Hidcote’ and Dianthus carthusianorum creating a subtle blend of colour.

Clockwise from top left Several Mediterranean plants, including this naturalistic planting of Lavandula x intermedia ‘Grosso’, Valeriana officinalis, Malva moschata f. alba, Dianthus carthusianorum, Linaria purpurea and Thalictrum flavum, thrive in this the garden’s unimproved, dry, stony shillet soil. Towards the garden’s edge a wooden carving by local musician Jonny Fenner nestles within a meadow of ox-eye daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare, surrounded by several Cornish apple tree cultivars. Edibles, including Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’ and Origanum vulgare, mingle with ornamentals, such as Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’, Iris ‘Snow Tracery’, Nepeta racemosa ‘ Walker’s Low’ and Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’ in a steeply sloping bed beneath the terrace. A group of Ilex aquifolium balls, mirroring the quatrefoil motifs found inside the rectory, add clipped structure to the shrub line along with Prunus lusitanica, Viburnum tinus ‘Eve Price’ and Luma apiculata. In front of these clipped shapes the white shrub rose Rosa Susan Williams-Ellis (= ‘Ausquirk’) adds a fresh link to colourful planting below.

Right At the edge of the circular kitchen garden, Conrad’s naturalistic and free-flowing style comes to the fore with a romantic mix of Thalictrum ‘ Elin’, Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’ and roses, including Rosa ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’ and R. Scepter’d Isle (= ‘Ausland’), underplanted with herbs including camomile. Beyond the dry-stone wall is an area known as Cob Nut meadow, featuring English hazels, such as Corylus maxima ‘Hall’s Giant Cob’, C. maxima ‘Nottingham Cobnut’ and C. maxima ‘ Webb’s Prize Cobb’.