Garden of the Week
Fruits and berries, glorious leaf colours and floral fireworks pay homage to autumn on this farm before snowdrops and hellebores sally forth
Lovingly created over six decades by owners Judy and John Wilson, the coastal garden at Chestnut Farm, in between Holt and Sheringham in Norfolk, delights in every season. “To me, the idea of putting the garden to bed at the end of summer is nonsense,” says Judy. “There’s so much life in an autumn garden from glorious leaf colours, succulent fruits and berries and a host of lovely flowers. Plus just take a look all around you and the signs of new life are there, from snowdrops thrusting through the soil and buds unfurling on cornus, magnolia and pieris, eager to start into new growth.”
Judy, a trained horticulturist, and John, a farmer, bought the farm in 1963, when a handful of mature trees were all that the land surrounding the farmhouse had to offer. Little by little the garden evolved as they created borders of herbaceous perennials, a cottage garden with tulips and alliums in late spring, a fountain garden edged with clipped box hedges and topiary shapes, vegetable beds, a pond, orchard and woodland area.
The garden is renowned for its carpets of late-winter/early spring bulbs, including more than a hundred different snowdrop varieties, hellebores, Cyclamen hederifolium, C. coum and primroses. “They’ve naturalised in the orchard and around the woodland at the front of the
house and are dotted around the winding paths,” says Judy.
But before the bulbs emerge, the Wilsons enjoy the splendour of the autumn garden, which is awash with colour and interest. Specimen trees draw the eye, such as a giant ginkgo with splendid butteryellow leaves, the giant maroon hearts of Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’, golden-leaved Liriodendron tulipifera and Acer capillipes with its iconic mottled-green snake-bark. A wisteria near the summerhouse in the fountain garden explodes with gold filigree foliage and richly coloured grapevines and Boston vines clothe walls and wires.
Evergreen yew and copper beech hedges provide structure together with clipped topiary hedges, cones and roundels, while an avenue of pleached limes to the side of the farmhouse stagger their seasonal show of greens, golds and russets, and look magnificent whether
Left, the autumnal fountain garden summerhouse still has an abundance of colour provided by pink asters, wisteria and pheasant grass. Right, a turning Ginkgo biloba in sunshine yellow
The garden is situated close to the sea, so high winds are a problem – two mature trees have fallen in recent years – but frosts are infrequent. John recently celebrated his 90th birthday and the couple are evolving the plantings to make the garden work better for them.
“We decided to grass over our large vegetable beds, which were labour intensive, and we’re planting more flowering shrubs in the gaps left by the trees,” says Judy.
They still plan to open the garden in 2021, if Covid-19 restrictions permit, and Judy has ordered a new summerhouse for serving refreshments. “Gardens never stop; they help you keep fit and they’re always looking forward, which is such a blessing right now.”
Left, the stunning bark of this snake-bark maple ( Acer capillipes) sets off the surrounding Nerine bowdenii. Right, ruby-red crab apples cascade from malus 'Red Sentinel' beside the glowing ginkgo