There are certain gardens that just have a magical, dream-like quality about them. They transport you to a place, a moment in time, that lingers in your memory more as a feeling than an image. This is one such garden.
Your first temptation to visit The Manor at Hemingford Grey (near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire), might be for a tour of the fascinating house. Dating back to the Norman conquest, it was the inspiration for the acclaimed ‘Green Knowe’ series of children’s books by author Lucy Boston, who bought the property in 1939.
But Lucy was clearly a polymath, for as well as being an accomplished author, quilter and war-time soirée hostess, the garden she created at The Manor is a plantsman’s paradise definitely worthy of a stand-alone visit.
Our discerning columnist, Louise, has long been an ardent admirer of the garden, now tended with great knowledge and devotion by Lucy’s daughter-in-law, Diana Boston, so I knew I was in for a treat when we went together on a visit earlier this summer.
Louise was keen that our visit caught the ‘iris window’ and once we arrived I realised why. Not just the sporadic clump scattered around, but well organised beds where each cultivar could be grown en masse so its true characteristics could be compared and contrasted with its neighbours.
Better still, many of them were from the Benton strain developed by Cedric Morris, so we were able to wallow in our mutual admiration for their elegant, understated beauty. I have never seen such a breathtaking, top drawer collection of these most evocative of garden plants.
Another real magnet of this garden was quantity and variety of true old roses, all beautifully displayed with the most wonderful scent. It was no surprise to learn that Graham Stuart Thomas had a hand in selecting them, and their heritage pedigree and elegant names added to the overall ambience of the garden catching a nostalgia tied to just post-war England.
Its plethora of roses, iris, clematis and peonies definitely put the garden into the cottage garden genre, but within this framework there is a fantastic diversity of supporting plants with almost every herbaceous perennial you can think of tucked in somewhere. Laid out in a series of garden rooms each with its own character, there are surprises around every corner, as you come across gems that you may have read about but never seen growing; woad, Roman shields, a white form of herb Robert …
There were lovely quirky features too, an avenue of topiary representing the orbs and baubles of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation, a tree almost completely smothered by mistletoe, an absolutely vast yew beside the back door of the ancient house which is said to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited dwellings in Britain.
But don’t for a moment think that this garden is hidebound by its past, or with only one season of interest. There are snowdrops in late winter, followed by generous spreads of early bulbs including a dramatic combination of Chionodoxa with the dark leaved miniature grass, Ophiopogon, and a spring water meadow which was recently awash with snakeshead fritillaries and a plethora of orchids. Later in summer the season is extended with pockets of exciting and eclectic annuals, one of which was already in full sway, a gorgeous white corn cockle called ‘Ocean Pearl’.
Totally authentic and refreshingly uncommercial (entrance fees and plant sales are operated via an honesty box) the most romantic way to arrive is via a river boat from St Ives on the river Great Ouse which borders (and regularly floods) the garden. Apparently it was a glimpse of the house from the river which first inspired Lucy Boston to purchase it on a whim in the first place. Alas Louise and I arrived more mundanely by car but this did make transporting our plant ‘souvenirs’ home a little easier. All the plants on sale are propagated at The Manor (love gardens that do this!) and to give you a flavour of the unique nature of this plantsman’s dream of a garden my little haul included no less that four different named cultivars of the humble Geranium phaeum….. it’s just that sort of place!
To read more about this fascinating house and garden, and to plan your own trip there, visit the Green Knowe website
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