Batcombe House Garden Visit

 Organised by the Hardy Plant Society, this was the first garden we visited on our two garden visit last week.  Had we known what a picturesque village Batcombe is, we would have arrived much earlier in order to explore the deep valley with the pretty stone houses.

Batcombe House is an impressive former Rectory, round which designer Libby Russell has developed a fine garden so very well suited to the impressive sloping valley.  It is a garden of two halves divided by an old wall through which pretty doors allows one to move from one to the other.

This gate at the top of the garden leads from the floriferous meadows to another large garden, at the top of which is a long curved bed with two aspects: one looking uphill and opposite the top bed of this garden, and the other side facing the grass terraces which tumple down towards the house. 

As well as established shrubs, and many old roses, the many herbaceous plants are testimony to a well managed and frequently refreshed selection of additional planting of interesting short lived perennials. 

Looking down towards the house the large expanse of lawn tumbles in a series of cressant terraces with the very tall Cedar Tree dating from the Georgian Period.  Either side has deep glorious borders, sadly keeping this admirer to the edges, which if no one had been looking, I felt like running to the top and rolly polling down! But I acted my age, and just imagined some small children doing that instead.

Up against the house, well clipped topiary balls as if rolled down themselves, settling on the level area give structure, whilst on the other side up against the outer extension wall, a fine white wisteria was in full bloom.

The arch here leads one back to the Kitchen Garden,

At the far end of the lowest level, of the Walled Garden, is the Pointillist Border, again with pretty plant groupings from which inspiration can be gleaned and adapted for the smallest gardens.

Looking along a wide border from the corner of the crayfish tank, one paticular plant which appealed to me, was one very similar to my almost too tall Thalictrum delavayi.  Gardeners Tom Price and Sue McCardie who showed us round were very happy to help, and I found out that it is Thalictrum aquileigifolium. 

Various large tubs were interestingly planted with a mixture of plants and young salvia plants, which makes for an attractive way to display up close salvia cuttings which have just gone through the winter.

Up one level to the Potager, where the individual beds were planted diagonally with a mixture of edibles and flowering plants.

I noted that Libby Russell the garden owner and designer,  has placed her clumps of chives slightly further apart, and this I will copy when I come to replant my chive border this year.

It seemed that in every area there were unusual shrub roses, some of which have been in the garden a long time, and had no name such as this one.

Some of the plants that caught my eye were labelled such as this one which light up the border with its silver leaves and clear white flowers.

Omphalodes linifolia

Argentinian Forget-me- not or Venus's Navelwort grey green leaves and spires of small petalled white flowers. Sue had a few of the packets of seeds they had sown this spring, and as if a magician, had a packet secreted in her pocket.  Small patches of Linaria maroccanna 'Licillia Violet' added zing in the herb garden and were much admired by the party.

Leading up from the Potager through up to the Swimming Pool and still further up beyond the tennis court levels, the banks are full of wild flowers, which were just full of insects. 

There is so much that I missed out, but also I can just imagine how lovely this garden is later when all the roses are out, and come to it, at any time of the year, there would be more than sufficient to please visitors. 

Should you catch this in time, you may like to book your visit on the NGS Open Day on 19th June, though I read that tickets will also be available on the gate.