Out with THE OLD

After years of neglect, the gardens at Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire have been redeveloped, with new planting designs echoing the Arts & Crafts history of the main house

Wide terraces take care of the garden’s gradient, the planting becoming increasingly informal as they descend the slope.

Marysa and Graeme Norris moved from London to Su olk in 2011. When they began house-hunting, Graeme said he didn’t mind where they lived as long as it was not in the flatland of Su olk! “But what delighted us about Su olk was the wide-open skies and the light,” Marysa recalls. “It was also less crowded and very rural, yet within striking distance of London.” By a stroke of luck they found Church Cottage in the village of Troston and, in the dozen or more years since moving, Marysa has worked her way through the garden she inherited, adapting and changing parts of it, as well as creating new areas. “When we arrived, the garden was a series of small rooms with several internal hedges and small fences that had helped keep the previous owner’s hens from causing too much damage,” says Marysa. “I wanted to open the garden up to reflect the big Su olk skies and let in the light.” Mostly the changes have been practical, some of them related to her wish to simplify the maintenance, but undoubtedly the most significant change has been Marysa’s creation of a new perennial meadow.

In London, she had a small courtyard garden packed with pots of fruit and veg, as well as ornamentals. At the time of the move she was itching to have her own large garden. Having completed the RHS Diploma at Capel Manor’s Regent’s Park

2 Gooseberry ‘Early Sulphur’

“Although they’re generally out of fashion these days, gooseberries are a fantastic addition to the garden. ‘Early Sulphur’ is one of the earliest cropping varieties with golden fruit sweet enough to eat from the bush,” says Ed. It’s a good complement to traditional green and red varieties like ‘Invicta’ and ‘Hinnonmaki Red’.

4 Blackberry ‘Loch Ness’

“Cultivated blackberries are much larger and more juicy than wild brambles, but you need plenty of space to grow them. ‘Loch Ness’ is a great variety that crops from August to October and the fruit keeps exceptionally well,” says Ed. This thornless variety would work well trained against a wall or along a perimeter fence.

3 Japanese wineberry

“Wineberries are the gems of the soft fruit garden – easy to grow, becoming large and vigorous trailing plants. The red-orange fruit have a wonderful sweet and acidic flavour,” says Ed. Japanese wineberries are more bristly than spiky and bear through July and August. They often self-seed from berries distributed by birds.

5 Blueberry ‘Spartan’

“Blueberries thrive in acidic soil and cold weather, so are a great choice if you live in one of the more inhospitable parts of Britain,” Ed says. “‘Spartan’ is an early fruiting variety with fantastic flavour.” If you don’t have acid soil, grow them in a container or raised bed filled with ericaceous compost.

6 Strawberry ‘Finesse’

Rely on everbearing or perpetual strawberries to produce fruit throughout the season as opposed to early, in the middle or late in the season like traditional strawberries. “‘Finesse’ is my favourite everbearing variety: sweet, juicy and very reliable, producing fruit from July right through until October,” says Ed.