A Secret Walled Garden Set High on a Hill

I have driven past this garden more times than I care to remember, without ever realising that it was actually there.

This truly is a "Secret Garden" to me, and it is someplace that I feel almost too selfish to share. It was once the garden to a huge house located high up in the hills above a beautiful valley, but the house was demolished many years ago and only the garden remains.

The garden was built well away from the house, designed to be a working garden, which was tucked away from view.   Now it stands quite alone, in the middle of fields, surrounded by a beautiful stone wall.

Time has stood still in this garden for many years, and although it is being slowly coaxed back to life, this is the perfectly imperfect garden, to me, in many ways.

As I approached the old iron gate and walked into the garden, it drew and enveloped me with its magic, its potential and its neglect.

What draws me to this garden is the way in which it has been left to nature, neglected and uncared for over many years.  At one time a team of gardeners would have worked for hours every day growing flowers, fruit, and vegetables for the house.  This working walled garden would have run like clockwork and been in a tip top shape.

This magical place is just as much about what is going on now, in the present,  as what has happened in the past.  Relics of the past are scattered all around the garden and progress for the future is clear to see as well.  

It feels as if those men and women gardeners of days gone by simply shut the garden gate and let time stand still until now.  In some ways it is sad to see the neglect, but in other ways you have a fascinating glimpse into another era, and that is what I love about this very special place.

The garden is on a moderate slope, and so is made up of a series of soil terraces, which are held back with dry stone walls.  The whole garden is enclosed with dry stone walls of around eight to ten feet in height.  This makes it feel quite special, as it is completely different to the well-known brick walled Victorian kitchen gardens.

There is a very relaxed feel, and due to the location and low height of the walls, the whole garden fits perfectly into its position, and borrows from the rolling hills and trees around it, many of which can be viewed from the garden.

The terraces are being filled with fruits, flowers and vegetables, but this is a work in progress, and it seems to be a battle between making progress and the garden taking itself back to the past.  There are areas of neglect, and it seems a lack of labour prevents the garden from reaching perfection.

When this was a working garden, a whole team would nurture and work on the land.  Now the garden relies on just a handful of helpers and volunteers, and there is repair work as well as gardening to be dealt with, so it is a huge task, and I am sure a labour of love.

There are several growing beds in the garden, each on its own terrace, and some edged with stone.  Large metal frames sit over some of the beds, and plants seem to be grown quite randomly rather than within some fixed scheme.

Although there was an overall feeling of balance between progress and neglect, there were nevertheless some beautiful plants - some self-seeded around the edges, and others obviously planted and tended to.

As I entered the garden a gorgeous coral coloured Papaver somniferum (Carnation Poppy) caught my eye, standing boldly upright, and contrasting against the dark and dry soil.  This was joined by a bright and beautiful yellow coloured Rudbeckia hirta (Brown Betty), which was eye catching in the afternoon sun.

There are pockets of Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (Ox-Eye Daisy) all over the garden, and towards the bottom of the garden they frame stone steps leading out through a doorway to the field beyond.  There, beautiful plants swayed in the breeze and gave a wild feel to the garden.

There are many self-seeders too, just sneaking into cracks in the walls, or a space where they feel just perfect to put down their roots and grow.  These added a certain charm to the garden and included the common Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove) and the bright yellow Eschschoizia californica (California Poppy).

Amongst the flowers, terraces and steps, garden tools and hand machinery were scattered randomly.  It seemed as if the gardeners had temporarily left them, whilst interrupted in work, and would soon return to continue their labours.  No modern tools here - all beautifully crafted tools of the past.

Other interesting plants I found were Verbascum, Aquilegia vulgaris (Granny's Bonnet) in a stunning shade of purple (variety unknown), as well as Cephalanria gigantea (Giant scabious), which towered over the other plants in a stunning yellow colour against the dry stone wall.

As well as the odd rake, watering can and roller, there were many old benches spread throughout the garden, many of which were made from old iron work.

Like the rest of the garden, these gave a feeling of grandeur which has aged, weathered and finally found a more easy going and peaceful pace.  The garden is now a labour of love, rather than a production line for the grand house.

Perhaps my favorite plant of all was the beautiful light pink coloured Astrantia major (Masterwort), which was forming lots of clumps towards the bottom of the garden.  This plant looked fragile in its surroundings but happy in its place.

At the bottom of the garden is a beautiful wooden gate, where you can enter the field beyond.  The gate is framed with ferns, and I expected to walk out into a woodland or something similar.

Instead, perhaps the greatest delight of the garden was found beyond this gate - the most amazing stone potting shed which leads directly into a wooden greenhouse with a dry stone wall base.

Beyond the wooden gate, there is also a small metal gate, which leads out to an ancient orchard area with many very old fruit trees.  This would have been a very productive fruit orchard for the house in days gone by.

The potting shed was dark, gloomy, and very badly lit.  I stepped into it with some trepidation, expecting a wall of cobwebs to brush past my face.  It felt cold and uninviting and it was a shame that more had not been made of this beautiful place.

Seeing an open door to the rear of the potting shed, and a glimmer of light, I walked quickly through, and was greeted by the most amazing site and, for me, the highlight of the garden.   The most wonderful wooden greenhouse with a beautiful stone base and sides.   Unexpected and completely delightful.

I am not certain whether the greenhouse is a recent addition or was around many hundreds of years ago.  Either way, it is stunningly beautiful.  miles from the nearest road, at the bottom of a total hidden secret garden - this is perhaps the most secret find of all!

The potting shed has huge stone slabs on the floor, but the greenhouse has a series of bricks laid out in a pattern on the floor with iron grates at intervals along its length.

It has brick inner walls to support the planting benches, and dry-stone base walls with iron supports and wooden beams supporting the glass.  It was light and airy and just a work of art, but in a rustic way

The paintwork was a gentle garden green colour,  and the greenhouse had a central door leading on into another section.  Beautiful old fashioned terracotta pots full of plants lined each side and it had the most wonderful feel to it.

After exploring the greenhouse and potting shed, you leave this area behind, walking back through the gate in the wall and back to the lower terraces of the garden.

All the terraces have grass paths which at this time of year, had been scorched by the sun.

As I walked back up the terraces, there was another beautiful stone building which had been built, up against the walls of the garden.  There was a beautiful wood carved owl standing guard outside!

This is the most amazing gardeners retreat.  Full of old fashioned tools and shelves for plant pots.

However, the most beautiful part of this small stone place is the working fireplace built into the wall.   This would be somewhere the gardeners could keep warm during the day, especially in the cold of winter, as the garden is quite high up in the hills.

There are other artsy like structures too.  Many of the supports in the garden are iron but on the top path there is a plant arch made out of foraged wood.  It is higgledy piggledy in form, but fits in perfectly with the Wizard sculpture carved out of the decaying remains of a tree.

Once the plants grow up the crooked supports,  and spill out over the top of this unusual structure, it will be very magical indeed.

Sadly my tour of this beautiful garden came to an end.  I reached the iron gate, set in stone, at the top of the garden.  The gate opened outwards into the lane, and I was reluctant to leave.

I had no idea how much this garden would touch me, and remain with me long after my visit.  Until only a few days before, I had no knowledge of its existence,  and now it had left its mark on me forever.

I walked reluctantly through the gate, and out into the grass lane, leaving the walled garden behind me.   As I walked along the lane, I imagined how many people had taken those steps before me.  Many doing a hard and manual job running a well ordered garden, for the demands of a huge mansion of a house which no longer exists.

I'm sure this garden touched all of those who entered before - just as it has me.