Exploring Great Dixter and Gravetye Manor

There’s always a slight apprehension about visiting a garden that’s long been on the ‘must see’ list. Will it be as good as you hope? I needn’t have worried about Great Dixter and Gravetye Manor. They were every bit as lovely as I’d anticipated.

Both are important in terms of their place in the history of gardening and both were created by influential writers known for their innovative style in what were their personal gardens.

The garden at Gravetye Manor in West Sussex was made by William Robinson in 1885. Robinson, who wrote many influential books and ran gardening journals, believed in gardening with rather than against nature – a radical concept at the time. Gravetye is now a hotel where the gardens are as important as its Michelin starred restaurant.

Great Dixter’s Long Border was full of colour even early in the season.

Christopher Lloyd was arguably one of the most important gardeners and garden writers of the 20th century and lived all his life at Great Dixter. Known for being unafraid to experiment, he introduced the idea of mixing shrubs with herbaceous, and caused outrage among many when he grubbed up Dixter’s rose garden to replant with tropical plants. Following the death of Christopher Lloyd in 2006, the garden is now run by his head gardener, Fergus Garrett, and a charitable trust.

My trip out of the Cotswolds started at Great Dixter, near Rye in East Sussex, on what was a rather cloudy day. That didn’t stop the garden singing out in the low light with layers of bulbs, early flowering perennials and shrubs all set against the backdrop of Dixter’s beautiful buildings.

The gardens were originally laid out by Christopher Lloyd’s parents with the help of Edwin Lutyens and encircle the house giving glimpses of it from many of the different garden areas.

Tulipa ‘Ballerina’ shines out after the rain in the Sunk Garden.

Orange is a colour many gardeners shy away from but I love it and use it a lot in my own garden. There was plenty to see at Great Dixter, not least from the reliable Tulipa ‘Ballerina’.

Tulips emerging through herbaceous foliage.

Tulips were used everywhere, in pots to soften the hard landscaping and bringing colour to the early foliage of herbaceous plants.

Old topiary and clipped hedges are a counterpoint to what was fulsome planting – Christopher Lloyd was said to dislike bare earth and there was little of it to see.

Smyrnium perfoliatum was everywhere at Great Dixter, mixing with bulbs and perennials. It is known as a bit of a spreader but its limey-yellow colour is the perfect foil for so many things. I’m very tempted to try it although I fear my soil may be too dry.

I was also there at just the right time to see the bluebells – the delicate English sort not the Spanish bluebells that are everywhere in my garden.

The sun eventually came out and the garden positively glowed.

My second stop was Gravetye Manor in West Sussex and a garden that is now headed up by Tom Coward, once deputy to Fergus Garrett at Great Dixter.

The hotel and garden are set in the 1,000-acre Gravetye estate with the woodland managed by the Forestry Commission.

The garden slopes up away from the hotel.

Created on a slope, the garden rises up to one side of the hotel, while in the other direction there are wonderful views across countryside.

I went on a garden tour with Senior Gardener Darielle, who explained that the seven-strong gardening team, while not allowing Gravetye to stand still, do adhere to the spirit of what William Robinson did. So, although there is some box, it’s a large, loosely clipped shrub rather than tight topiary.

‘If we suddenly had box balls in a William Robinson garden, he would turn in his grave,’ she told us.

Three *Prunus glandulosa* ‘Alba Plena’ planted together and pollarded every year.

Like Dixter, the planting is multi-layered with spring bulbs providing much but not all of the colour. The Flower Garden, which sits immediately in front of the hotel, is changed with the seasons – dahlias, cannas and masses of salvias will be added in the coming weeks.

Vibrant colour from one of the many rhododendrons.

The garden is on clay that’s slightly acidic – although William Robinson had the flower garden dug out to a depth of 30 inches and the soil replaced with good loam before he started planting. It does mean they can grown rhododendrons and other acid-lovers.

Camassia forming a river of blue under the apples.

Away from the hotel, the garden becomes more informal with wildflower meadows and orchards. I was there at the perfect time to see the combination of apple blossom and camassias – the latter chosen so they would flower with the trees.

The Walled Garden was magical as the sun rose.

The highlight of Gravetye though has to be the walled kitchen garden. It was created in 1898 and cleverly makes use of the topography of the site so that it is south-facing and sloping – there’s a ‘frost gate’ at the lower level – while the elliptical shape maximises the sun available.

Neatly laid out with rows of seedling veg – even this early in the year – it has a mix of fruit, veg and flowers, all used in the hotel, including a small pool filled with watercress.

The walls have trained trees – apricots, peaches, fig – while the shadier side is used for currants. Step-over apple trees divide some of the beds and more are used as espalliered screens. One fruit cage was filled with blueberries, the ground mulched with pine needles from the woods to keep the acidity high.