JEWELS IN THE CROWN
Spring is heralded with an explosion of colourful tulips in a Berkshire garden
Spring in the garden at Common Barn is sure to lift the spirits. Tulips twinkle like gemstones among a froth of fresh leaves and sculptural topiary, banishing all memories of winter as April’s treasures emerge. Above the bulbs, gnarled old apple trees form a canopy of pale pink and white blossom, mirroring the clouds scudding over this windswept hillside.
The garden that surrounds the Victorian farmhouse and barn was originally designed in 2009 by renowned landscape designer Tom Stuart-smith. The owners of the property, which lies a few miles from Henley-on-thames, asked him to create a sheltered walled garden, formal lawns and mixed borders, plus a wildflower meadow to complement their newly extended home. Natural woodlands and pasture make up the rest of the 57-acre estate.
Three years ago, head gardeners David Richter and Beth Marshall came on board to help rejuvenate and refresh the gardens. ‘When we arrived, some of the planting had been neglected, with the more rampant plants running riot and pushing out less vigorous varieties. Tom and our client asked us to bring the gardens back to their former glory and they were also happy for us to add new touches of our own,’ says David. While Beth focused on creating an organic kitchen garden, David took charge of the ornamental beds.
In the walled garden, David has retained the existing gravel paths and rectangular beds. An old yew hedge and apple trees that pre-date Tom’s 2009 design, together with box topiary domes and spurge (Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii), form the backbone of the design. ‘We had a problem with ground elder and bindweed, which meant most beds had to be dug up, the plants’ roots washed and those we could save replanted. However, this left gaps that gave us the chance to be creative,’ says David. ‘I increased the diversity and layered brightly coloured tulips, such as orange and yellow Tulipa kolpakowskiana,
with spring perennials, including bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), hellebores and the cooling blue tones of navelwort (Omphalodes cappadocica).’
More jewel-like tulips dress the yew-lined border, where ‘Prinses Irene’, ‘National Velvet’ and dark
maroon ‘Havran’ jostle with honesty (Lunaria annua) and dainty blue Anemone blanda beneath a row of apple trees. To keep the show going year after year, David makes detailed notes of which tulips are where then bulks up the groups with more bulbs every autumn to supplement any that don’t come up.
Beyond the walled garden to the south, a formal lawn edged with trees and mixed borders leads the eye from the house towards the meadow, where an Antony Gormley sculpture gazes out over the valley. ‘The season starts in March in the meadow with a sprinkling of cowslips, which then disappear beneath the grasses and more than 50 species of wildflower,’ explains David.
The lawn and border, which are edged with a flint wall and filled with a palette of citrus-coloured tulips, lead on to a more intimate space to the west, where the swimming pool, a dining terrace designed to trap the evening sun, and lawns punctuated with beech topiaries make up the final garden space. Spring delights extend beyond these cultivated areas. In late April, carpets of bluebells burst forth in the woodlands, which David and Beth are renovating, with the aim of introducing more native trees and increasing biodiversity.
‘Diversity is the keynote of everything we do,’ says David. ‘A multitude of plants form layers in every bed and border, washing over one another to provide a year-round display with seasonal crescendos. The intensity of our bulbs, combined with subtle earlyflowering perennials, makes spring one of my favourite moments.’ This rich variety is at the heart of the gardens at Common Barn, with the spring spectacle providing a colourful prelude to gifts yet to come.
GARDEN GUIDE
ORIENTATION Hilltop location.
SOIL Free-draining loam over chalk bedrock.
SPECIAL FEATURES Walled garden, lawn with mixed shrub and perennial borders, a wildflower meadow and woodlands.
GARDEN DESIGN Tom Stuart-smith, 020 7253 2100, tomstuartsmith.co.uk; and David Richter, davidrichter.co.uk. The garden is not open to the public.