Exploring The Newt

I’ve been meaning to get down to Somerset to visit The Newt since a cancelled press trip in the spring of 2020. Last week, I finally made it.

Owned by South African husband and wife Koos Bekker and Karen Roos, it’s a garden about which I’d heard a lot – not least because The Newt has sponsored RHS Chelsea for the past few years.

Reports have been mixed with some loving the transformation of garden that in the past has been designed by Penelope Hobhouse, and Nori and Sandra Pope. Others I’ve spoken to have been less complimentary.

We managed to visit on the hottest day of the year so far – not ideal for taking photos. The spell of unseasonable warmth also meant that, like many gardens, we found The Newt a little between seasons with spring bedding flagging fast in the heat and the summer things yet to take their place.

Even so, there was a fair bit of colour around with some tulips still standing (see this week’s Cheering Up Mondays post) and candelabra primulas that definitely made me glad I was wearing sunglasses.

The garden is divided into ‘rooms’ with distinctive themes: the Kitchen Garden, Cottage Garden, Colour Gardens, Long Walk, Four Seasons Garden and Japanese Garden to name but a few.

Bonsai and raked gravel were the main features of the Japanese garden with colour from acid-loving azaleas on the slope behind, something I rarely see in the Cotswolds.

Possibly my favourite area was the apple tree maze in the walled garden made up of hundreds of different varieties. Here, the many different ways of growing apples were demonstrated, including espaliers, cordons, and goblets.

This spiral was unusual and a good way of growing apples in a small space although requiring patience and a lot of training of new growth.

Outside, the formal gardens, the huge orchard of thousands of cider apples was in bloom and a beautiful sight.

Despite being early in the season, the Kitchen Garden had enviable rows of chard and turnips – mine are just coming through the soil.

There were also some beautifully made plant supports and one of the fanciest bug hotels I’ve ever encounted.

The Cottage Garden was one of the more densely planted areas with clematis flowering on the pergola, lime-green euphorbia bracts and geum in full bloom.

I spotted a couple of beautiful iris but with no labels (understandable as they are rarely attractive) and no information board with a plant list, I have no idea what they are. I had already spent some time hunting down a gardener to find out the name of the tulips and didn’t want to repeat the process so these will remain nameless.

There were information boards in the Colour Gardens, a series of linked, small spaces with colour-themed borders and a nod to former owners the Popes who experimented with colour design in the 1980s.

However, this rather lovely ceanothus was not one of the plants named. I did like it underplanted with pale blue camassia though.

I haven’t grown ceanothus for many years as they can be borderline hardy and my garden is cold. Having seen this – one of two in the ‘blue garden’ – I’m tempted to risk one again.

One of the notable elements of The Newt was the number of water features ranging from huge formal ponds to elegant rills. This was a series of falls and rills in the Victorian Fragrance Garden & Cascades. The frogs that spouted water at passersby were fun.

The borders above these falls were interesting for the use of clipped yew where the norm would have been box. Indeed, I saw no box on my visit, a sign that the twin foes of blight and caterpillar are really changing the face of English gardens.

Another feature was the number of seats, very welcome on a hot day and necessary in a garden that spreads over many acres. We walked a long way to see the Four Seasons Garden where ‘Summer’ looked the most noteworth but, being mainly roses, was not in flower. A return visit would be needed to see if it lived up to its promise.

So, did I like it? The Newt has the same sort of ‘London in the country’ feel that I encounter in some Cotswold places. It feels carefully curated and there was definitely an element of the stage set about the different areas. A friend who knows it well described it as “sterile” and I could see their point.

Individually, the garden ‘rooms’ were interesting but said nothing new – with one or two exceptions, the plants and the combinations were things that I’ve seen countless times. There was also a sense that the garden doesn’t hold together as a whole but is a series of unconnected elements.

In fact, the highlight of the day – bar some exceptionally good ice cream – was an area that is little gardened. Sitting in the cool of trees in the Deer Park looking out over the Somerset countryside to sheep sensibly lying in the shade of more trees was bliss.

To visit The Newt, you have to become a member or, like us, find a local hotel that offers entry as part of their package. RHS members can also visit free of charge on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. More information here.

Enjoyed this? You can read about more of my garden visits here.

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