OXLEAZE FARM near Lechlade is steeped in Cotswolds vernacular, but, between the layers of old stone buildings, yew-enclosed garden rooms and box-trimmed vistas, there is something distinctively fresh and personal. This is made more tangible when the owners explain that the garden has been evolving for 40 years and that it was all their own work.
When Charles and Chipps Mann inherited the farm at Oxleaze as a young couple, the garden comprised two adjacent rectangles, one supporting an impossible quantity of fruit and vegetables, the other devoted to monocultures of roses and peonies around a modular lawn. Before long, the vegetable garden was reduced by half to make way for a climbing frame and swings.
In this garden, logic and good looks
