GARDENS Take a trip to Timbury’s Pythouse Kitchen Garden

WONDERWALL An enchanting 18th century walled garden, a ‘plot to plate’ restaurant and a spot of glamping make Timsbury’s Pythouse Kitchen Garden an exceptional place to visit

Words by Nick Woodhouse Photos by Pythouse Kitchen Garden

The unknown. One of the most exciting parts of visiting a walled garden has to be the moment you step through those lofty boundaries, not quite aware of what to expect beyond. As I entered the kitchen garden at Pythouse large manure-heated pits. Today, this spirit remains, the north wall home to a rampant kiwi vine sitting alongside more traditional fare; apples, gooseberries, celeriac and chervil. Piers’ pride and joy however is the wonderful mulberry tree that sits unassumingly amongst the grass paths that now lead overnight glampers to the shepherd’s hut and bell tents. Assisted by Ann Shutt, head gardener in Wiltshire, hulking heating pipes lay Heather Price has worked tirelessly on the testament to the long-fallen glasshouses that gardens for ten years now. As well as tending would once have cloaked the red-brick garden to the gardens and ensuring a plentiful harvest perimeter. This was however no pastiche of throughout the seasons, Heather also curates times past; there was an unexpected buzz the picSaourown Æower garden there. within those walls. Amongst it, I met owner Charged by the bucketload, visitors can pick Piers Milburn in the conservatory restaurant, a seasonal mix of blooms; verbena, anemones a space still bustling from the last of the and dahlias all competing for secateurSaturday lunch service. wielding enthusiasts.

Piers met his wife Sophia when they were In fact, everything grown in the gardens both working in London; he as a graphic goes into the menu at the bar and restaurant designer, she as an actress. Ten years ago, the there, the team happily embracing the couple left the city for rural Wiltshire to run challenge to be inventive with a menu ultimately dictated by what’s in season. Everyone “Visitors can pick a seasonal mucks in; the general manager will often be found mix of blooms; verbena, weeding, the front of house waiter picking the fruit anemones and dahlias for desserts. The garden’s shop is testament to this all competing for secateurwielding enthusiasts” collaborative search for the unusual, the special. Bottles of the house ‘Sprigster’ sit handsomely on the shelves; a non-alcoholic botanic mash that matches perfectly a glamping site on Piers’ family farm. In that with tonic. The same base of hops, fennel time, they would often visit the gardens at seeds, rhubarb and ginger also resonates Pythouse for a cup of tea; on one such visit, the through the unusual preserves on sale. owners of the small café there explained that Whilst Piers admits he’s not a gardener thea were planning to sell up oٺering them the himself hospitalita is most definitela in his opportunity to take on the business. blood; his father ran a successful restaurant

They did just that, turning the gardens business in galleries and museums such as that would have once supplied produce to the the V&A. Perhaps this alternative discipline Pythouse estate into a vibrant space where was a blessing; an opportunity to break those the new has most definitela and sensitivela conventional horticultural traditions. Here is embraced the old, although perhaps just for an open garden, free to enter, but perhaps not the while with a socially-distanced elbow how you would imagine. Kids can be found bump. In times past, this walled garden playing hide-and-seek amongst the established would very likely have welcomed those latest borders, dogs sat expectantly next to their e`otic finds so pribed ba the >ictorians# thinS owners. Piers aptly describes it as Peter Rabbit pineapple plants kept unseasonably warm in meets Willy Wonka; a traditional kitchen garden more relaxed than many other open gardens, with an unorthodox approach to how the garden’s produce is served.

This very approach is set to take on a new pace and direction with the recent appointment of head chef Darren Broom. <aSing his inÆuences from ;candinavian food culture and his own personal finds from foraging, it is also his knowledge of the art of cooSing over fire that is destined to Seep visitors returning through the seasons. ) firepit greets guest as they enter the gardens, cooking meats sourced from local farms to accompany The Gardener’s Board, a collection of seasonal pickings from the surrounding gardens.

I asSed 8iers how locSdown had aٺected them. Perhaps this will remain for some time a question on all our lips. Soon after the restrictions were imposed, the business was burgled and their storage unit burnt down, along with all the stock within. With all the summer weddings planned in the gardens postponed until more certain times, Piers and Sophia took the time to re-evaluate. They scaled back, decided to keep things a little simpler. They certainly didn’t rest on their laurels though oٺering to deliver through lockdown; veg boxes, meats and local produce regularly packed and dispatched to loyal customers. Each Friday too, suppers would be cooSed on the firepit and prepared for picS up or delivery to be re-heated at home, some nights serving as many as 150 covers. Despite those recent setbacks, Piers speaks excitedly about the future. It’s lovely to hear. If these walls could talk, I think they’d do so with a similar enthusiasm for what lays ahead.

For more: Pythouse Kitchen Garden, Tisbury SP3 6PA; tel:01747 870444; www.pythousekitchengarden.co.uk

Nick Woodhouse is the co-director of interior and garden design company Woodhouse & Law on 4 George’s Place, Bathwick Hill, Bath; 01225 428072; www.woodhouseandlaw.co.uk

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Everything grown in the gardens goes into the menu; Rosa picking herbs; Stepping into the unknown at Pythouse Kitchen Garden; There’s an unexpected buzz within the walls and gardens