Gardener’s Delight

Laurie Lavender recommends some of Sussex’s outdoor spaces to lift the spirits when lockdown ends

I was thinking recently of places I would like to go when we are able to get out and about safely again and one of them, even though I have been before, is Great Dixter, the garden designed by Christopher Lloyd, which is just off the A28 at Northiam just inside East Sussex.

I first heard about this wonderful garden when I was working at Leonardslee back in the 1970s. I was reminded about Leonardslee while watching the original film version of Black Narcissus that was on over Christmas. It’s hard to believe that West Sussex could stand in for the road to the Palace of Mopu in the Himalayas! I worked there for a short time on the gardening team. We opened for six weeks a year, four in spring for the camelias, rhododendrons, azaleas and bluebells, and two weeks in the autumn for the colours when the trees turned.

Anyway, back to Great Dixter and Christopher Lloyd. I was given his book, The Well-Tempered Gardener (without irony I might add), and was blown away by his use of colour when planting his beds. He was quite happy to break ‘the rules’ and create vibrant clashes and textures that are still the inspiration for the garden today, maintaining a wonderful freshness.

Christopher had grown up at Great Dixter, the house had been renovated and extended by Edwin Lutyens, an architect from the Arts & Crafts movement responsible for the Cenotaph in London, Lindisfarne Castle renovations and also many buildings in New Delhi. Christopher’s mother, Daisy, was a keen gardener and had introduced him to Gertrude Jekyll, a British horticulturalist who had created gardens all over the UK, Europe and America. Her own house, Munstead Wood near Godalming (designed by Lutyens), is privately owned, but there are open days when the public can visit the garden she designed.

In the opposite direction, the village of Winchelsea has open days in the spring and the summer but I don’t know if any dates have been provisionally allocated this year.

[Christopher Lloyd was] quite happy to break ‘the rules’ and create vibrant clashes and textures that are still the inspiration for the garden today, maintaining a wonderful freshness

I was chatting with a friend of mine who works at Charleston Farmhouse and Garden and they are hoping to open the gardens at least in the spring, hopefully around Easter. Their website is www.charleston.org.uk, so all information will be on there (see also p40 of this issue for more about Charleston and the Bloomsbury Set). I also hear there is a new exhibition that is being prepared. Of course, after learning all about the Bloomsbury Set you can travel the short distance to St Michael’s and All Angels Church at Berwick to see the paintings by Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Quentin Bell.

The other place I find I am looking forward to going back to when the weather is more clement is the walk from Patcham across the Downs to the Ditchling Post. This walk takes you past the Chattri and affords great vistas northward over the Weald. The Chattri is where the bodies of Hindu and Sikh soldiers who had died fighting in World War One were taken to be cremated. Their ashes were then scattered in the English Channel. The monument was actually built in 1920 from Sicilian marble and ‘officially’ unveiled in February 1921 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII).

I normally take a packed lunch to eat before I return back. NB: if it is a hot day take plenty of sunscreen and plenty of water as there is little shade on this walk.