The story of Ashington Manor

The Story of Ashington Manor

In this lesson you'll learn the story of Ashington Manor, what the site was like when we arrived, and how we began shaping the garden using structure, bulbs and rambling roses.

Ashington is in South Somerset, a few miles north of Yeovil – very flat, almost like a Dutch landscape, with distant hills and views towards Glastonbury Tor.

We first saw the house about nine years ago, and when we eventually moved in (nearly six years ago now), it had been empty for a decade. The "garden" was basically just mown grass, a few hedges, and very little to anchor anything – except for a couple of Irish yews, a nut tree, and an orchard of French cider apples planted in the 1960s.

What really drew us here wasn't just the land – it was the history and the feeling of the place: ancient Somerset, abbots of Glastonbury, the nearby 13th-century church at the end of our garden (with what's thought to be one of the oldest bells in England, from around 1290). The history of the house and the context of the surrounding landscape were integral to the way we approached the design of the garden – the sense of age makes you want to garden in a way that belongs.

A Few Things We Decided Early On

• We want a garden designed to be lived in, so it's a collection of things we love and places to be.
• We needed strong structure from trees and evergreen shapes that persist through winter, because the landscape is so flat.
• We used huge yew hedges to create rooms and enclosure – a big investment and not something we'd normally do, but it gave the garden bones immediately. They're great for birds too.
• We wanted right angles and clarity in the layout, which we could then mess about with through the planting.

The soil here is wonderful – rich alluvial soil from the slow river, with gravel beneath - so lush planting comes naturally if you let it.

Working with What You've Got

We often have issues like this with clients: a shady drive or immovable trees that you have to work with. In our case we have a drive lined with Catalpa trees that come into leaf very late, so it looks like winter until June. But the upside is that it gives bulbs perfect conditions, with plenty of light early in the year. So we decided to plant masses and masses of bulbs – snakes head fritillaries and Camassia as well as our huge snowdrop collection – and then not mow until July.

Something else magical happened when we reduced the mowing: orchids began appearing. First one or two… now we have hundreds. There are real advantages to not mowing everywhere.

Rambling Roses

We also planted a huge number of rambling roses, because they give you drama and scent with surprisingly little work once they're established. You don't have to train them into shape – you just get them started up a tree or stump with a bit of string, and then they cascade like they would in the wild. If you choose enough varieties, you can get two months of flowering, and they smell extraordinary.

The whole idea is a garden that feels lush, scented, slightly wild, and joyful – even if you don't have much labour.

Plant Directory

Malus domestica (cider apple cultivars)

French cider apples

Hardy deciduous trees

Rosaceae

Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'

Irish yew

Hardy evergreen tree or shrub

Taxaceae

Galanthus species and cultivars

Snowdrops

Hardy bulbous perennials

Amaryllidaceae

Taxus baccata

Common yew

Hardy evergreen tree or shrub

Taxaceae

Catalpa bignonioides

Indian bean tree

Hardy deciduous tree

Bignoniaceae

Fritillaria meleagris

Snake's head fritillary

Hardy bulbous perennial

Liliaceae

Rosa (rambling cultivars)

Rambler roses

Hardy deciduous rambling roses

Rosaceae

Camassia species and cultivars

Camass or quamash

Hardy bulbous perennials

Asparagaceae

Anacamptis pyramidalis

Pyramidal orchid

Hardy herbaceous perennial

Orchidaceae

Further Resources

• RHS guide to pruning rambling roses
• RHS guide to lawn and mini meadow habitats