To visit England is to visit a land of gardens—the most beautiful gardens in the world. And a large proportion of these gardens is open to the public, either for a charitable cause or on behalf of the National Garden Scheme to help impoverished owners keep them up.
No article about this ancient and widely scattered treasury of national beauty could claim to be exhaustive. But for travelers to our shores, here are a few pointers to indicate what to see and how best to see it.
Bodnant Gardens in North Wales
At the top of the list, I would put the gardens of Bodnant in North Wales. These are unique in that they have been in the hands of only two owners for the better part of a century—the late Lord Aberconway, who was President of the Royal Horticultural Society, and, before him, his mother.
Both had great taste and wide knowledge, and both were rich. And they had a superb setting for their labors, a cluster of wooded hills falling gently to the River Conway, sheltered from the winds, balmy with the breath of the nearby sea.
The result is indescribable, so I won’t attempt to describe it. But I may mention wide slopes of camellias in every known variety, lakes blue with the reflection of giant hydrangeas, the largest European collection of rhododendrons, and, in August, the finest display.
I have seen the most exquisite of all summer flowering shrubs, Eucryphia glutinosa, growing as tall as an outsize pear tree. But then, Bodnant is a garden of giants; even the Garry’s are the size of fifty-year oaks.
When I stayed at Bodnant, I took away a little box of soil in my suitcase; I felt it had magic qualities. So why not do the same?
Three hours by train from London, fifty cents entrance fee. A small price for a ticket to Paradise.
Savill Gardens at Windsor
Next, I would place the Savill Gardens at Windsor for those whose time is limited firstly, because Windsor is only 40 minutes by train from London so that a trip can be fitted into even the most flying visit; secondly, because the little town itself is dripping with history.
The interior of Windsor Chapel is breathtaking. But principally because the gardens, particularly at rhododendron time, are of exceptional loveliness.
They lie about three miles from the town, bordered by Windsor Great Park. They are vast, with a natural framework of ancient oaks and beeches and stretches of water that recall a landscape by Fragonard.
The late Queen Mary took an active part in the planning, one reason that the long vistas of rhododendrons and azaleas are so exquisitely blended in color —drifts of whites flanked by groups of yellow, pale pinks merging with vermilion and deepening to purple.
But even when the rhododendrons are over, there are hosts of rare shrubs and trees to take their place, and throughout midsummer, a fabulous display of lilies in varieties unknown in most parts of Europe.
Half my space is gone, and only two gardens are mentioned! So I will try to condense it.
Great Dixter in East Sussex
If you want to visit a typical English garden, with the sort of herbaceous border one usually sees only on old-fashioned Christmas cards, leading up to a modest Elizabethan house which is everybody’s dream of Olde England, go to Great Dixter, in East Sussex. Very easy to access from London.
Powis Castle in Shropshire
Or, if you have a taste for sheer romance, with stately terraces and ancient railings, and some of the finest garden sculptures you have ever seen, looking out on a rolling landscape of woods and hills, Powis Castle in Shropshire will give you an unforgettable experience.
The “Land’s End”
If you are more of a garden specialist, you must make the trip to the west of England. Don’t forget that you can motor from London to the extreme tip of Cornwall, “Land’s End,” in a single day.
But though the distance is so short, the climate changes dramatically due to the beneficent influence of the Gulf Stream.
In Cornwall, you will find things such as eucalyptus, mimosas, and even tree ferns, flourishing in semitropical abundance.
Garden House in Yelverton
One of the most interesting Devonshire gardens is at Garden House, Yelverton, which is close to the old home of Sir Francis Drake. It is a fascinating blend of medieval and modern.
Another in the neighboring county of Somerset is Wayford Manor, with its giant cypresses giving on to a strangely deserted and remote landscape.
Yet again, only an hour away, is Stourhead, Mere, in the next-door county of Wiltshire, with its eighteenth-century Palladian temple dreaming by the edge of a lake dyed crimson and purple, in June, with overhanging rhododendrons.
Lovely Gardens All Over Britain
There are over a thousand such gardens all over Britain, through whose gates you can wander and spend the day for an outlay of fifty cents. I cannot even scratch the surface, so I suggest something.
Write to The Organizing Secretary, National Gardens Scheme, 57, Lower Belgrave Street, London S.W.1. Enclose a dollar which will go to a worthy charity, the Queen’s Institute of District Nursing.
In return, you will receive, by airmail, a book of 150 pages, beautifully illustrated, called “The Gardens of England and Wales.” This will give you full particulars of over a thousand gardens, the dates on which they are open, admission fees, the best route, and the specialties for which they are famous.
I hope you will feel that this is a dollar well spent. For it will give you the key to the very heart of England.
41337 by BEVERLEY NICHOLS