Natural heritage
Mary Caroe has continued and enhanced the beauty of her unique Arts and Crafts-style gardens, which include elements designed by Gertrude Jekyll
This listed Arts and Crafts garden shines in springtime
The peaceful atmosphere and feeling of timelessness pervades the senses as you wander the beautiful grounds at Vann in Hambledon, Surrey. With origins dating back to the 16th century, the house is certainly deserving of a special garden. The Arts and Crafts design, with elements created by renowned Edwardian horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll, perfectly befits the home’s architecture and its lovely setting, tucked away in the lanes of the Surrey Hills. The property has been in the Caroe family for over a century, and when Mary and her late husband Martin inherited it in 1969, the garden was still very beautiful, its structure and hard landscaping intact. ‘The house is steeped in history; the most recent additions were from 1907 by my late husband’s grandfather, WD Caröe, the renowned ecclesiastical architect and a major figure in the Arts and Crafts movement,’ says Mary. ‘When we moved in, my husband was working in the family architecture practice and we had four young children, but we really enjoyed restoring the gardens. Martin had always been very interested in the garden, and I am sure he married me because I was a good weeder!’
Guiding the couple’s rejuvenation of the Grade Ii*-listed garden was their desire to keep the spirit of the place and its illustrious pedigree. Weeds and brambles were cleared, the heavy Wealden clay improved with tonnes of compost, hedges reshaped and plants added. Being true to the ethos of Jekyll and the Arts and Crafts movement was always in Mary’s mind as she restored the site. ‘I still garden in the quiet Jekyll manner, although using newer plants when we need to renew any, just as Jekyll would have done in her day,’ says Mary.
This is a timeless, subtle-toned garden that sits comfortably against the mellowing timber-frame house. It draws you in to wander the meandering paths, and explore its treasures, with seating dotted throughout, in both sunny and shady spots, to encourage quiet contemplation. Spreading out from the house, the garden extends to five acres and is divided loosely into different areas with yew hedges and structured beds. Close to the house the style is more formal, then extends out to the naturalistic wild
areas. Combining areas of enclosure – such as small paved courtyards – with open vistas, lends a classic charm to the garden.
In spring the scene is a meld of pastel blossom, from Magnolia stellata and soulangeana, fresh unfurling greens, carpets of soft yellow and glowing white narcissi under a canopy of skeletal branches, with just an occasional splash of intense colour from vibrant tulips, a crimson camellia or Chaenomeles japonica (flowering quince). Ensuring there are plenty of tulips throughout the garden is important for Mary as her mother was Dutch, and she has enjoyed balancing her love of the more controlled style she remembers from her childhood with her love of a wilder garden.
A striking Bargate stone pergola, underplanted with lime-green euphorbias, nodding hellebores and spring bulbs, leads from the house to the large quarter-acre pond, from where the water cascades to a succession of small ponds. It feeds the unique water garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll, who in 1911 visited Vann from her nearby home of Munstead Wood.
Indeed, this is believed to be the only water garden Jekyll ever designed, laid out and planted, despite often writing about informal water gardens – so it is a real gem to be savoured and treasured. Although Jekyll (1843-1932) is revered and well known today as one of the most important British landscape designers, in the 1970s there was little interest in her, and many of her gardens may have been lost over the years. By chance, Mary discovered more about her garden when a friend who worked in Godalming Library discovered a box full of Jekyll’s notebooks in a cupboard. Spotting that one had Vann on the cover, she got in touch with Mary, who made copies of the pages about Vann, then returned the notebooks to the library.
The water garden proved to be the most challenging part of the garden to restore as it had been rather neglected, was covered in bindweed and ground elder and had silted up in places. It needed digging out and clearing, with many plants moved into the vegetable garden and then replanted using the plant list left by Jekyll, with the same or similar varieties. There are massed water-loving plants originally supplied by Jekyll and now increased and naturalised. A surprising number of the 1,500 plants put in by Jekyll still survive in the garden, including the original 50 Fritillaria meleagris (snake’s head fritillary), now multiplied into drifts of hundreds, carpets of Caltha palustris (marsh marigold), dainty nodding snowflakes, a haze of blue forget-me-nots, and special, but unnamed, narcissi stretching as far as the eye can see.
Completing the vision are meandering paths and criss-crossing bridges to slow your journey and let you immerse yourself in the atmosphere. ‘My favourite time to stroll is in the evening when the white daffodils glow in the late light,’ says Mary. The use of massed blocks of plants in harmonious colours and textures is typical of the Jekyll style, creating an environment that looks like a work of nature, not of man. While the structure and long vistas are visible in spring, through summer the planting matures to almost jungle stage with lush ferns and giant hogweed. Some of Jekyll’s plants that haven’t survived, such as a clump of acers and many Nymphaea (water lily), are being replaced. As with all gardens, there is always something that
The use of massed blocks of plants in harmonious colours and textures is typical of the Jekyll style
needs redoing, and if Gertrude Jekyll were alive today she would be bound to suggest something new if a plant wasn’t working. ‘We have a far wider range of improved forms of plants to choose from these days. For example, we have selected different hostas, such as ‘Big Daddy’ and ‘Thomas Hogg’, but we try to plant them in the Jekyll manner,’ explains Mary.
The most labour-intensive area in the garden today is the Yew Walk, another section that gives Mary great joy as it changes through the seasons. Originally planted with roses, which failed to thrive because of the ‘depredations by the local deer population’, it was completely transformed with foliage plants interspersed with bulbs. It is pretty through the season, starting with early bulbs, irises, tulips, silvery tufty grasses and Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, followed by geraniums, salvias and kniphofias (red-hot pokers).
‘The Yew Walk, with a rill and twin borders enclosed by tall hedges, is reminiscent of Jekyll and Lutyens’ work at Hestercombe. It is rather special in spring, with massed crocuses, pulmonarias, Milium effusum ‘Aureum’ (Bowle’s golden grass) and Erysimums, such as ‘Bowle’s Mauve’, ‘Jacob’s Coat’ and ‘Wenlock Beauty’,’ says Mary. New projects continue to evolve the garden further, including having the main pond dredged so it is now more a lake, and is enjoyed by the family as a natural swimming pool when they visit. ‘My latest creation is a bit of jardin potagère and we have planted 120 yews in the veg garden. Rather fun! One does need new projects,’ Mary adds. ‘I hope Martin would approve.’