Blacksmith’s Cottage – a lesson in design

Do gardeners have a style that they return to regardless of where they garden? It’s something I pondered as I walked around Blacksmith’s Cottage, one of the newest recruits to the National Garden Scheme.

It’s been created by Katie Lukas, a designer I’ve known for many years and whose previous garden is somewhere I have written about several times.

The walled garden at Blacksmith’s Cottage may much smaller – around a third of an acre as opposed to the two-and-a-half-acres of her former plot – but there are distinct similarities.

Strong sightlines, a careful linking of the house with the garden and, above all, interesting planting were all characteristics of the former Stone House (it’s changed names with new owners) and all are evident now.

As befits someone who has worked as a garden designer for 30 years, Katie started on the garden even before she and her husband, Andrew, moved into Blacksmith’s Cottage in Little Compton. While they waited for planning permission, she set about remodelling the site.

First to go in were the trees, including 18 20ft Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’, which screen neighbouring houses. She’s chosen them because they flower early and have beautiful foliage that still looks good into November.

Deciding the main axis for the garden was also an early decision and was determined by the entrance out from the garden room.

“Don’t centre it on the house,” she explained. “What you look at is everything.”

So, the view runs from the terrace to an aqualens fountain set into the main lawn, is further defined by yew hedging and ends at a carefully sited iron gate that allows a view of neighbouring fields, a clever use of ‘borrowed landscape’. Most of the yew is new as Katie decided trying to regenerate the original, overgrown hedge would take too long.

Beyond the yew hedge is the kitchen garden with a series of raised beds and a small greenhouse. There’s also Andrew’s workshop, built by him, as was the pretty summerhouse.

The other major piece of landscaping work was digging out around the house to create a large area for sitting and a change in levels, which adds interest to the garden.

It’s a site that many would think of as difficult as it’s north-facing, an element that Katie believes is an advantage as you always have the sun behind you.

“It lights up the garden like a stage,” she explains.

The planting has all of Katie’s trademark style: every border has several trees or large shrubs that are ruthlessly pruned to keep them open and not too big.

“I bully them,” she admits. “I took out half that Acer griseum.”

Among the things given this treatment are Elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’, Prunus ‘Ukon’, crataegus and Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo’, which has about a third completely removed every year. Meanwhile, Osmanthus burkwoodii is about to be cloud pruned.

Next comes a layer of smaller shrubs and perennials with bulbs and ground cover forming the lower tier of planting.

The borders are shaped to come out to a point – it allows for more planting – and given some formal structure by balls of box.

One of the joys of visiting Katie is talking plants. She has a wide knowledge of varieties and I always learn something new. This time, it was Sanguinaria canadensis, Canadian bloodroot, that caught my eye, while she also told me about several good alternatives to Geranium ‘Rozanne’, including ‘Azure Rush’, which she uses to underplant the white Rosa ‘Kent’.

Surprisingly, she took not one plant from her old house, arguing that she could easily buy anything again. She also didn’t want them languishing in pots while deciding where they would go. Those decisions are made instinctively – she’s not a designer who draws up complicated planting plans.

As yet, the garden is still very new and has a lot of maturing to do but already the framework is laid for something special.

• Blacksmith’s Cottage, Little Compton, near Moreton-in-Marsh, is open from 2-5pm for the National Garden Scheme on April 28. 2019. Further details here.

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