Lytes Cary Garden Review

Christopher Hussey famously described the gardens at Lytes Cary as being like 'a necklace of garden rooms strung on green corridors'. How poetic! But garden rooms are such  a garden design 'go-to security blanket' they must needs be done well if done at all. Little is worse than a poorly executed cliché.

Lytes Cary sits firmly in that famous golden triangle of Somerset gardens. Montacute, Barrington Court, East Lambrook Manor and Tintinhull House are all close by. The history of Lytes Cary dates back to the 14th century which, with an early 20th century 'Arts and Crafts style' makeover, should form the basis of an excellent pedigree.

You can also add rural ambience, glorious views, glowing stone, luxuriously thick yew hedges, a plethora of garden ornaments and topiary to die for. I imagine you would be asking how it could not be a success, right? As with many a stately home you park behind a cowshed, pay in an outbuilding, and work your way circuitously round to the grand front. (Its like they really want you there isn't it?)

At the front you see what is arguably Lytes Cary's great garden gem. There is no build up. It is the Apostle garden. A 'take it or leave it' flaunting of a dozen bosomy yews (uncomfortably topped by cones resembling the bras Madonna wore way-back-when).

They march towards a distant dovecote. And we do too, or we would.....but no, wait. The gate at the bottom is locked. A dead end. But we need to be where those people are on the right beyond the higgledy hedge, heading towards the rest of the garden. So we must retrace our steps back towards the house.

On our left we pass a door which actually gives direct access to the rest of the garden. But it too is locked. Only  disabled visitors are given the key! So we head out, back past some pleached lime trees. They are pretty impressive and give us good pics to show clients to whom we are currently suggesting pleaching, but we've seen them twice already.

We work our way round to what is recognisably the main garden. Here in a narrow corridor, a deep mixed border is juxtaposed with a buttressed yew hedge across the path. Its a good, but not sparky, the border. At the end, a sharp left takes you directly into an orchard. It is a 'through the looking glass' or 'Jekyll and Hyde' moment depending on your mood. But I rather liked that move.

Here in the orchard, mown paths diagonally traverse a more relaxed space. This is right up our strada. We are forever urging clients with large gardens to consider meadow culture. The contrast of long and short grass, besides being labour saving, is to die for and much smarter than they can possibly imagine. I am surprised its being cut in mid July though.

On the edge of this space a green corridor catches my eye. How simple is that. Simple, in our terms, is good I might add. Yews and a descending bank of Hypericum calycinum aka good old 'Rose of Sharon'. What?? Well, I guess if you have this many corridors and rooms you can do what the hell you like with them. But that is a mighty lot of Rose of Sharon!

Talking of rooms, another is characterised by a pool, one by quadrants of lavender,and one by a croquet court. The Vase Garden is curious. Centring on a rather non descript urn, it is bordered by a ring of variegated Weigelas. I kid you not! Whoever thought that one out?

The access to it was interesting though, consisting of a passageway through a dense canopy of hornbeam. Now I do quite like that. Strong changes of light and shade add interest to the garden route. And can add distinctly to human comfort.  It was an odd day weatherwise. Overcast and yet warm. The cool arising from the shade was palpable and welcome.

An eyes-right through the gloom to the side of the tunnel also established the presence of the estate dog graveyard. A bit of psychological cooling too then. Neat. We learn that Satchmo died in 1996 at the ripe old age of 14. The pets live long in these grand old gardens. Cute name for a dog: Satchmo!

Turning the corner to the western front of the house there is another terraced level that you can't get into. :-(((( . And also the sort of  tropical/exotic/hot garden which is now kind of de rigueur in larger gardens. But here it goes off rather at half cock. If you are going to do anything, do it with conviction and the world will probably reward you, even if it is wrong!

One of the problems here, aside from the planting of the hot borders themselves, is that strung through them is a necklace of heathers in narrow centralish borders. I completely understand that these will give interest at other seasons. But bizarrely you have heathers next to dahlias and ipomea. Surely anyone would see that that is odd?

Through a gateway you glimpse open parkland and immediately long for the change of feel being there would represent. Ah! Tough luck. It is yet another locked gateway and at this point you lose patience. What is left, is a rather dreary retracing of steps over old ground. Past borders that seemed faded, jaded and tired.

I really liked this characterful assembly of pots I saw on the way. But hey, I am grabbing at straws. Lets be honest, I obviously did not love Lytes Cary. It was like an old lady, still elegant in parts, but very very tired.

Of course it is always the wrong time to visit a garden. 'The garden was so much better last week' and all that jazz.  But as a former head gardener I can see past the exigencies of the weather and the season - the grass looked like it needed a darn good water- and the fact that a landscape ages - they were embarked on the long and hard task of restructuring historic yew hedges.

I could see that the staff put a lot of love and hard work into their garden. They were all cheerful, friendly and I saw them go out of their way to help visitors. My pickiness relates not to the gardening.

I am really talking layout, visitor movement and grand direction. It is as we are always saying: successful gardens amount to more than pretty tableaux. They are composed of space and matter, substance and voids. And how those are linked together and how you move through them really matters.

Unfortunately in this case I fear someone should go back to Christopher Hussey's jeweller and ask for  a restring! I call Lytes Cary a well worn security blanket rather than a designer throw!

R