Rhododendron heaven
RAMSTER is a masterpiece of woodland gardening, carefully designed and planted to appear as natural as possible. It reaches the peak of its loveliness in May, but is truly an all-seasons garden, one of the best in southern England.
The story begins in 1900, when a Mr Waechter (later Sir Harry) bought a farm named Rams Nest, near Chiddingfold in Surrey, with a view to what we would now call gentrifying it. The Arts and Crafts Movement was then at its height. Waechter re-modelled the house in the Surrey vernacular celebrated by Gertrude Jekyll, and, at the same time, started to plant a woodland garden among the native oak-trees. Jekyll’s recent book Wood & Garden (1899) provided the inspiration and the method.
‘Lady Norman was an enthusiastic propagator and hybridiser’
A near neighbour of, now very substantial plants), venerable evergreen azaleas and tall bamboos, for a stylised Japanese garden with traditional stone lanterns and Zen cranes, symbols of longevity. All are still important elements of the garden today.
