SIMPLE PLEASURES
Antoinette Galbraith explores a tulip and blossom-filled garden in the Lammermuir Hills which comes alive in the spring
A glorious East Lothian garden that comes alive with bulbs and blossoms in spring
In 2002 when Linda and David Shaw Stewart first saw Eastfield on the slopes of the Lammermuir Hills in East Lothian, the red sandstone farm steading had been abandoned for 20 years. ‘It was a total wreck,’ Linda says. ‘Every roof was rotten and there was so much debris we couldn’t get inside the steading to take a look.’
Despite this Linda could see that the buildings, once part of the Whittingehame Estate, the birthplace and family home of Prime Minister Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), had major potential.
After the purchase the south and west sides of the buildings were converted into a house while the other sides were re-roofed and the walls rebuilt. ‘We couldn’t start planning the garden until we knew how the house would work,’ Linda says, adding that it took two years to clear the courtyard from layers of broken glass, slate and blocks of concrete. This eventually revealed cobble walks and standings which were retained. Everything possible was recycled, including the brick edging.
When the surrounding landscape proved more exposed than expected – ‘the wind roared in from the north west,’ says Linda – establishing a shelter belt of oak, birch, ash and Scots pine on the raised land to the south-west became a priority.
Now accessed by mown paths, the woodlands are filled with snowdrops that Linda planted herself, begging and borrowing from friends and neighbours. Closer to the house the wind is now filtered by prunus, birch and a collection of richly berried sorbus, hazel and willow.
With David allowing Linda a free rein ‘so long as enough space was kept for a golf driving range and a five-a-side football pitch’, a two-part design of a semi-formal courtyard garden and a stack yard garden accessed from the south-facing house began to take shape.
Linda, who by this time had established Growing Gardens, a landscape consulting company with her neighbour Jenny Harper ‘over the kitchen table’, explains her philosophy. ‘I try to achieve maximum impact with relatively low maintenance,’ she said. ‘I want to have something that looks great without making me feel nervous or overworked.’
Fundamental to this was establishing a solid framework, so Linda focused on emphasising the agricultural element of the setting and maintaining the relationship between the buildings and the landscape. ‘I love the garden in spring, I am less interested from late July to the end of August,’ she admitted. ‘I get engaged again in the autumn when I am obsessed. I love autumn berries.
‘I love spring when it’s all about daffodils, tulips, blossom
“
I love spring when it’s all about daffodils, tulips, blossom and the acid green of young foliage
and the acid green of young foliage. I like using long-lasting, robust plants that can cope with the local conditions, rather than plants that need nurturing or are difficult to grow here.’
Entered under a main arch, the impact of the courtyard garden is immediate and in strong contrast with the steading’s semi-austere external facade. Once inside you immediately notice the backdrop of espaliered, orange berried Cotoneaster and white flowering Hydrangea petiolaris that soften the walls.
The perimeter beds are packed with trees chosen for the colour of their blossom, berries or fruit: red berried Cotoneaster salicifolium ‘Rothschildianus’, Malus ‘Golden Hornet’ and Morello cherry, Prunus cerasus ‘Morello’. Simplicity and contrast comes from the central, beech hedge-enclosed lawn, a place to sit or for children to play.
The heart of the garden is the formal parterre – the first part you see on walking out from the house – a symmetrical layout of brick-edged beds divided by gravel paths with a nod to French planting. Here, height comes from Cotoneaster ‘Cornelia’ Cornubia
Above: The Shepherd’s Hut, where David and Linda ‘have a drink every evening in summer’.
Below: Tulips stand to attention. with white blossom followed by red berries underplanted with Hellebores foetidus and ferns.
In these beds spring is celebrated with a glorious succession of Leucojum aestivum, bright blue Camassia quamash and Tulipa ‘Spring Green’. Tulip ‘Flaming Spring Green’ breathes life into the perimeter beds. The terracotta pots are filled with Helechrysium while an exuberant feel comes from a background of Exochorda x macrantha ‘The Bride.’
The second part of the garden is on the site of the former stack yard directly in front of the south east elevation. Here tall magenta T. Dolls’ Minuet combines with white and green ‘Green Star,’ in the double border that flanks the path from the front door to the greenhouse, herb and vegetable garden.
Between the outer border and the path, six Amelanchier canadensis, chosen for their explosion of spring blossom and claret-coloured autumn foliage, veil the grass beyond. ‘Once the tulips are over I seed the gaps with wild flowers, including cornflower, California poppy, linum and anything else that happens to be around,’ Linda explains.
Turn right and you see the maroonpainted Shepherd’s Hut with a view of the Lammermuir Hills. Raised on wheels it can be moved around to follow the sun and is large enough to sleep in.
In spring the hut appears to float on a sea of Narcissi ‘Ice Follies’ planted in the informal, curved beds that flank the lawn. Opening out in soft cream and primrose these robust bulbs enjoy a long flowering season and only require cutting back after they have finished flowering.
‘Everything is about simplicity,’ declares Linda. ‘I want to enjoy the garden and I don’t want a garden that is impossible to manage. The basic maintenance has to be simple, if not you end up being overwhelmed.’
In spring the shepherd’s hut appears to float on a sea of Narcissi