High Glanau Manor Garden

High Glanau Manor was the house of Henry Avray Tipping who was born in France in 1855. He was a writer on houses and gardens, a garden designer and Architectural Editor of the Country Life Magazine for many years.

Tipping wrote several books including "Gardens Old and New" and he also owned and lived in several properties during his life. In Monmouthshire he designed his own gardens at, Mathern Palace, Mounton House and High Glanau Manor which is now the home of Helena Gerrish.

Helena Gerrish has restored High Glanau gardens back to the original Tipping design. She gained an MA in Garden History at Bristol University and has also written two books, "Edwardian Country Life; The Story of H. Aray Tipping" and "Mounton House: The Birth and Rebirth of an Edwardian Country Home".

When I visited High Glanau gardens I had very little knowledge of it's background and I was not aware of the books. Now both books are on my Garden Library wish list and I am hoping that I will be able to return to the garden with the benefit of my new found knowledge.

On the day I visited there were very heavy rain showers and when we arrived Helena welcomed our group into her home and then proceeded to tell us a little of the history of the house and gardens. Without Helena most of the garden history could have been lost forever. The long herbaceous borders had disappeared, the greenhouse was abandoned and many parts of the garden had become overgrown.

Helena set about to restore the gardens herself by studying gardening and garden design, researching past articles and images relating to the gardens and doing all of this with meticulous attention to detail. She really put her heart and soul into this work and I was touched to see that she even had a plaque installed in the garden to commemorate Tipping.

At the time of my visit in late July the long herbaceous borders were in full bloom. The Hemerocallis or day lily were planted towards the front of the borders and repeated along its length. To the middle of the border was an eye catching white coloured Phlox, part of the Polemoniaceae plant family, and at the back of the border towered Foeniculum vulgare or the Common Fennel.

The beautiful Argyranthemum frutescens also known as the Paris or Marguerite Daisy had been strategically planted along the length of the borders and blended in perfectly in height and colour - the gorgeous yellow centre of the flower matching with the orange shades of the Day Lillies.

The long herbaceous borders are flanked on each side by a Taxus Baccatus English yew hedge with a back drop of very substantial sized and well established trees. Each end of the long borders has a focal point - away from the house is a beautiful wooden bench set against a stone wall and, at the other end of the border sits the house itself. A stone set of steps leads up onto a terrace which anchors the planting and gives a focal point drawing the eye back towards the house.

At the far end of the borders a stone wall runs the length of the garden and separates off the greenhouse area as well as a sloping lawned area with beautiful view through a stone opening back to the house.

The greenhouse has lots of pots containing Pelagoniums as well as a substantial number of tomato plants. These were in individual pots but staked well together with bamboo canes. The greenhouse was in a neglected state when Helena first arrived at High Glenau so it is wonderful to see that it has now become a working greenhouse once again.

The greenhouse is 40 feet long and was built by Messenger and Co with beaver tail glass to ensure rainwater did not penetrate on to the wooden structure.

From the back of the house there are a series of steps leading down to the Octagonal Pool which is a focal point and contains a fountain powered by a stream fed hydaulic ram.

Beyond the Octagonal Pool the land falls away into a valley with far reaching views and many trees. There is a sweeping view of west Monmouthshire to the Brecon Beacons and the planting is such that it frames this view whilst also drawing your eyes back into the garden itself.

As Helena says "Tipping created a secret world here and has left his mark in his own romantic way. We are lucky to be the custodians". High Glanau is a very special place and made even more interesting by Helena who has such a passion for the gardens that Tipping created.

Guineveres Garden | Garden Writer