Exploring some Devon gardens

Much as I love the Cotswolds, it’s always good to explore somewhere new and a recent trip was the perfect opportunity to see some Devon gardens.

The first garden I encountered was at Gidleigh Park. Now, I can think of a few hotels that have good gardens – Whatley Manor, Barnsley House – but generally they’re not known for having little more than an easy-to-manage nod towards gardening.

Gidleigh Park is set on the northern edge of Dartmoor and much of the garden has the same rugged, natural feel that adds to the sense of leaving the rest of the world behind.

A stream cuts through the garden and there are woodland walks with small waterfalls and stepping stones. This was particularly good in the unusually hot weather.

Alongside the Tudor-style hotel, the planting is vibrant with deep borders planted to give a succession of colour.

It was the kitchen garden that really had my interest though.

The slope of the ground is handled with a series of circular terraces radiating around a piece of stone that links the garden back to the surrounding landscape.

I liked the way the terraces allow you to walk between the beds as well as making them easier to cultivate.

The produce is destined for the hotel kitchen and it was interesting to see what was grown – some familiar, other things less so.

Why, I wondered, were their lettuces untouched by slugs and how could they leave cabbages uncovered? Anything that’s not protected in my plot gets eaten by the pigeons.

I often grow sweet peas up netting but had never thought of using it for cucumbers and how’s this for a great way of training ivy and wisteria.

The second of the Devon gardens was one of the National Trust’s quirkier properties: Castle Drogo, a castle dating not from the Medieval times but from the beginning of the 20^th century, the last to be built in England.

It was commissioned by millionaire entrepreneur Julius Drewe and designed by Edwin Lutyens, and took 30 years to build.

The castle itself is undergoing a massive six-year restoration project – mainly to stop the rain getting in – so it was covered in scaffolding and it was difficult to see the famed view over the Teign Valley. There was no such problem in seeing the gardens though, which are now Grade II listed.

The gardens were also designed by Lutyens and then planted up by George Dillistone, a founding member of the Institute of Landscape Architects.

History tells that there was a disagreement between Lutyens and his employer about where to put the garden. Lutyens favoured the east side of the castle overlooking the gorge but Drewe wanted a private garden and so it was built in an area that meant cutting into the underlying rock.

The garden covers a range of styles from more naturalistic orchard, shrubbery and rhododendron gardens to a formal garden at its heart that is sheltered by high hedges – the garden is the National Trust’s highest at 275m – and cleverly constructed views through.

At the centre is a rose garden, (main picture at top) which is sunken to give added protection from the Dartmoor weather.

Rather than the straight lines of so many mixed herbaceous borders at Castle Drogo they are angled to break up the flow and create a more interesting rhythm. They are gradually being restored to reflect Dillistone’s original planting and there’s an informative display about the process in The Luncheon House.

The Pavilions – four carefully pruned and shaped Parrotia persica – at each corner of the garden were particularly popular on a scorching day. Hart’s tongue ferns at their feet added to the sense of green cool.

And there’s still a sense of the family that once lived there with a circular croquet lawn hidden behind tall hedges and the Bunty House, put into the garden in the 1930s for Drewe’s grandchildren to play in.