THE DETAILS

STYLE Contemporary hillside garden, with an emphasis on shape and colour

SEASONS OF INTEREST Late summer and autumn

SIZE Two-thirds of an acre

SOIL Free-draining shallow sandy loam over stone, enriched by liberal use of horse manure and homemade compost

First of all, there is the view, which mesmerises any visitor to Clouds Rest. As you stand on the terrace of the house, you see the “wild secluded scene” immortalised in William Wordsworth’s poem A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey two centuries ago. You are – as he was – looking at the “green pastoral landscape” of the Wye Valley. Then Rob and Jan Basford’s garden comes into focus. In summer, the colours and textures of the ebullient perennials stand out against verdant wooded slopes and meadows. Later, fading to burnt orange and red, their planting almost becomes part of the beech-wood tapestry beyond. At any season, it is clear that Rob and Jan have fashioned a foreground worthy of this dramatic valley.

What is all the more surprising is the maturity of a garden started from scratch just seven years ago on a stony hillside that was covered with docks, trees and an overgrown boundary hedge full of brambles. Paths, beds and every single plant have been put in by the Basfords after they cleared the site. “There’s a good aerial view from the upstairs windows of the house,” says Rob, who designed the garden. “I saw the lie of

THIS PAGE, ABOVE The view towards the house reveals the rich texture of the planting, including varieties of hydrangeas, asters, orange Ligularia ‘Desdemona’ and white Sanguisorba canadensis, with structure from Arbutus unedo and Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ LEFT Cornus berries OPPOSITE A blue aster, its name unknown by the Basfords; Canadian burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) soars above various asters