BURIED TREASURE
The potential of the walled garden at Old Inzievar House in Fife was hidden beneath a blanket of weeds and grass before Lisa and Tim Hall turned it into the gem that it is today
The return to glory of the walled garden at Old Inzievar House in Fife
‘ Family and friends all know that Lisa can usually be found completely immersed in her plants in the walled garden’
Twelve years ago, when Tim and Lisa Hall saw Old Inzievar House advertised and went ‘to have a look’ Lisa knew immediately that this Georgian dower house was the right one for them. Sited on the side of a hill with southerly views over the Firth of Forth the house was reached by a drive flanked with fields of Hebridean sheep. Even more exciting was the walled garden a short walk to the west.
At that time the grounds close to the house were well maintained but the walled garden, with its lower sloping space, was down to grass and the top of its red brick walls required urgent repairs. ‘There were just a few apple trees,’ she recalls. ‘Otherwise it was knee-high grass.’
With a limited budget and experience she admits to feeling somewhat daunted. ‘I wondered what I would do if I got it wrong,’ she says. ‘I didn’t know anything about design and it was fairly intimidating. Our Edinburgh garden was given over to football.’
As the ground was cleared inside the one-acre space the outline of the original border that ran along the foot of the top, south-facing wall and part of the side walls, emerged. Once the space was clear she admits to taking ‘anything I could gather in or rescue cut-price from chain stores or anything anyone would give me’. This method revealed treasures such as the drifts of unidentified pale blue iris rescued from a discarded pile in Lisa’s great aunt’s Morayshire garden. This iris, it turned out, was originally grown from seed gathered in Cornwall.
The original colour scheme, developed in purples, blues and pinks with splashes of white, still remains but recently a number of
late-flowering, warmly-coloured plants have been introduced to extend the season.
Favourite plants include Nepeta, masses of purple allium, tall, thistle-like Cirsium rivulare, blue Geranium Rosanne and pink and white peonies. Phlomis and Sedum will flower in summer. In August the palate changes to include yellow Hemerocallis, maroon Helenium, deep pink Lythrum Salicaria Robert, maroon Sanguisorba officianalis combined with tall, smoky pink Eupatorium, Inula hookeri, Echinacea and yellow rudbeckia.
Throughout the garden advantage has been taken of vertical spaces such as walls, which are clothed in pink Rosa Gertrude Jekyll and an unidentified yellow-tinged rose.
Once the top border was established the decision was taken to divide the space horizontally with an allée of lime trees inspired by a visit to Sissinghurst. ‘We started with ten trees but they didn’t get far,’ Lisa recalls, ‘only about a quarter of the way across the lawn.’ Once Tim saw how successful this first planting was he bought additional trees and the allée now divides the garden in half.
Reached up a flight of stone steps flanked with purple Nepeta, the second half of the top garden features a formal layout of gravel paths which are filled with roses that take centre stage in summer (although as the ‘hot’ colourscheme planting has developed, the garden is also still in its pomp in the autumn). Laid out on the unpromising site of an old greenhouse, this part of the garden was improved by the barrowing in of ten tons of gravel by hand.
Here, deep purple, fragrant Rose Cardinal de Richelieu is a special favourite, as is the rich double-yellow Charles Darwin. ‘Few plants are as exciting as a rose,’ Lisa says.
Below, on the lower side of the central allée and tucked away behind a copper beech hedge, is a vegetable garden where the rich, productive soil is attributed to pigs having once been kept here. Raised beds produce artichokes and asparagus – the latter are ‘delicious this year after the addition of lots of dung’ – as well as lettuces, beans, peas and a section of winter vegetables.
Growing in confidence she laid out a knot garden at the foot of the walled garden. Inspired
by a simple design created by Gertrude Jekyll, the knot garden is an elegant contrast of green box and the grey foliage of Stachys byzantina, nepeta and fragrant, pink Rosa Gertrude Jekyll.
Two years ago the couple laid out a charming, low-maintenance border to enhance the sitting area near the house. Here, easily-tended low-maintenance beds are filled with purple allium and Iris ‘Jane Phillips’ set against the background of tall white Eremurus.
A damp patch, a space where ‘everything used to die’, has been transformed into a bog garden and remains a work in progress. Here are young Rodgersia pinnate, Gunnera manicata, yellow Primula florindae, the Flag Iris, Iris pseudacorus, Filipendula ‘Kahome’, deep red Rheum palmatum, Inula magnifica and Darmera peltata. The foliage of different ferns will add summer interest.
Lisa admits that gardening is a ‘total love’. Family and friends all know she can usually be found ‘completely immersed’ in her plants in the walled garden. The results in this charming, happy garden are inspiring.
‘Throughout the garden advantage has been taken of vertical spaces such as walls’