Second NATURE
As the sun sinks behind the Old Rectory, it suffuses the myriad flowers and grasses with a golden glow so that, glimpsed from a nearby hillside, the garden appears as a jewel set within wildflower meadows and copses, hills and hollows. “It’s hard to believe that when we first came, there was no garden,” recalls Louise Ness. “Derek and I had wanted to make a garden from scratch, and then we found this blank canvas.”
Today there is nothing blank about the outstanding garden created by this husband-and-wife duo, the bare canvas transformed into a vibrant tapestry of plants contained within a framework of yew or beech hedges. A strip of bearded irises flanks a rose cutting garden, while beyond, an allée of peonies leads past twin sunset-hued borders towards a walled kitchen garden,
