A SECRET PLACE
Gardener Martin Smith and his partner Alex Taylor nurtured a rundown walled garden into a creative hideaway, borrowing from the landscape beyond to broaden their horizons
A hidden walled garden where country meets contemporary
This extraordinary walled garden is actually a former covered game larder which, centuries ago, served an extensive country estate in Wiltshire. Confined by the former building’s walls, this 40 by 25 metre, now-opentopped enclave harbours a flourishing garden created by Martin Smith and his partner Alex Taylor. Their home, a brick and tile-clad cottage, is built into the five-metre-high ‘garden’ wall; its metalwork rooftop weathervane dates it to 1715. From the outside, this imposing façade conceals all evidence of a garden beyond. ‘You wouldn’t know it was here,’ says Martin. ‘Open the huge old wooden garden doors and you are transported to another world.’
The secluded nature of the garden enticed Martin and Alex away from their previous home, near the village of East Knoyle, in 2013. Within its surprisingly roomy quarter of an acre walls, a rectangular garden has been expertly crafted to maximise the space. The garden is infinitely enlarged by ‘borrowing the outlying estate parkland south of the garden,’ explains Martin. Mature climbers, most of them scented and flowering, clothe the garden walls, blurring the boundaries and bringing height to the garden planting. ‘We rescued gnarled wisterias, tangles of honeysuckle and a rampant Clematis armandii fastened tight to the walls. We brought with us vigorous Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’ which now smothers the walls with flurries of scented white blooms. We have to take a hedge trimmer to it in winter to keep it in check,’ laughs Martin.
The garden’s outer framework is undoubtedly ‘country idyll’, but the inner design has a more contemporary feel. ‘When we moved here the garden was long abandoned, overgrown with an old leaking pond,’ says Martin. ‘It was essentially a paved yard, the >
❝WE LOVE THE SECLUSION. IT’S COMPLETELY HIDDEN AWAY; A SECRET WALLED GARDEN YOU WOULDN’T EVEN KNOW WAS HERE ❞
earth has little depth, the underlying poor, thin soil had never been worked, having been hidden under pavers for centuries.’ They elected to lift all the pavers and strip back the garden to create a clean, blank canvas on which they were able to superimpose a new, raised garden design, rather than dig down beneath.
‘We created a series of raised beds and borders, filling them with masses of fresh new topsoil to support new plantings.’ Gravel pathways rim a large rectangular island which hosts, back-to-back, the raised White Garden, an elegant counterfoil to the elongated rectangular raised Pool and Bog Garden. This, with its mesmeric and eye-catching Urchin water feature, is the garden’s focal point.
Dividing the pool’s length in three, Martin created a rectangular planting bed at each end for water-loving bog plants, while the main water-filled section is fringed with actual aquatics – dwarf bulrushes and waterlilies. The pond attracts garden birds and small amphibians – frogs, toads and newts. Recently introduced turtles have called for an increased water flow to stimulate higher levels of oxygen, which the turtles need in order to survive their winter hibernation. ‘The deeper, lower-bog section is planted with salvaged old irises, aptly named ‘Black Gamecock’. At the shallower top end we’re now growing plants with good height and structure; cardoons, Cynara cardunculus, Papaver somniferum ‘Hungarian Blue’ and towering honey flower, Melianthus major.’
Colour-themed herbaceous beds and borders occupy the garden’s remaining outlying raised sections. Backing the pool, cushioned in box, rise the stars and spires of the White Garden: white wands of Delphinium ‘Galahad’, foxglove ‘Dalmatian White’,>
❝We have an eclectic but considered mix of plants to suit both our tastes ❞
Campanula glomerata ‘Alba,’ together with sprays of ‘Iceberg’ roses. Repeat-flowering David Austin scented English roses engulf the entrance border in bold pink tones, while the entire forty-metre breadth of the garden, beneath the perimeter wall, is washed with a wave of pale gold roses: ‘Virginia Mckenna’, ‘The Pilgrim’, ‘Roald Dahl’ and Martin’s favourite, ‘Vanessa Bell,’ which ‘transforms from yellow to rich cream as it mellows and matures’. Under-planted with foaming Mexican fleabane, the tiny brick-pink-and-white flowers complement the encasing brickwork.
In the elbow of the rose borders, Martin has made an L-shaped sleeper-sided herbaceous bed (pictured on previous page) filled with foxtail lilies, foxgloves and verbena. ‘I wanted to inject more height and colour,’ he explains. This bed is besieged by bees.
Elsewhere, hand-forged by the local blacksmith, arbours, obelisks and plant tripods laden with climbing clematis and roses provide more height. At lower levels, wherever space can be found, are myriad decorative pots spilling with annuals and perennials. ‘The soil simply isn’t deep enough to support larger trees, so, to link to the tree-lined landscape, we’ve planted container specimens of Acer palmatum and a dark-leaved cherry from our previous garden.
As well as all this, Alex, ‘who is totally mad about tropical palms and exotics’, has planted a jungle-ful of containers. His tender, sun-loving specimens thrive in the sun-soaked, south-facing garden but need to be overwintered in the glasshouse.
‘Our garden, secreted away from the outside world, is a tranquil oasis where we can retreat, unwind and recharge,’ reflects Martin.
This private garden is not open to the public.