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At first approach , visitant to Allt - y - bela , Arne Maynard ’s historic household in Usk , south Wales , might distrust the designer has been so disorder by projects around the world that he has n’t had time to lean his own place . Those who see the gold - palm - winning garden he make for Laurent - Perrier at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London , or bed the romanticEnglish country gardenshe designs for the manor house houses and mansion of financier and executives , might enquire if they have come to the right-hand place . It ’s all here , though — the roses , the billowing herbaceous planting , the pleached and clipped trees , and the picturesque yet productive vegetable patch . It ’s just that here thing are a little more subtle .
ornamental topiary meets realism at the 15th - century home base of interior decorator Arne Maynard , where his garden gradually merges with five demesne of woodlands and pasture . Photo by : Tom Mannion . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
Maynard , who writes a horticulture - tip column forGardens Illustrated , and his collaborator , William Collinson , own Allt - y - bela and five besiege demesne of soft , trilled pasture and forest . Before that , they had spent 15 years go at Guanock House , a 16th - century manor house near Spalding , Lincolnshire , in the wide , flat farmlands of eastern England . “ We were in this sea of barley and edible corn ; you felt very vulnerable , ” says Maynard . There he make a jewel box of a courtly garden , divided by gamy hedges into rooms and filled with color . “ It was an oasis within the vast landscape , whereas at Allt - y - bela , I am fete the landscape , and I want the garden to be part of it . ”
Some of the charm of Allt - yttrium - bela ( a Welsh name that translates as “ gamey wooded hillside of the masher ” ) stems from the way the planetary house has grown organically over the centuries to befit its habitant , with no overall “ grand pattern ” of dwelling position and outbuildings . It is more or less anchored by a slating - cap stone farmhouse built in the fifteenth century . In 1599 , its wealthy inhabitant add a three - narration tower , hoping to impress frequent Passer - by on the adjacent , once - fussy thoroughfare that is now little more than a footpath beside a dead - end nation lane . And impressive Allt - y - bela is — the striking sum of its components made even more center - catching by the tangerine - color lime wash the yoke lately apply to its exterior .
The house sits at the bottom of a shallow valley , as if in its own little world , or like the skunk of gold at the closing of a rainbow . Chickens scrabble about in the yard , and informal groups of yew , beech , and corner topiaries — a frequent motif in Maynard ’s designs — are scattered around the front of the house , as though they are look the arrival of an authoritative Edgar Guest . Topiary was a popular art during the Renaissance , but the tree diagram , which Maynard plant and influence into drumsticks , are a new addition and a product of Maynard ’s effort to create a garden , which Allt - y - bela lacked when the couple buy it from the Spitalfields Trust , a London - based Greek valerian that preserves historical buildings of merit . “ When the trust took it over , it was a dilapidation , and they spent four years doing it up , ” tell Maynard . “ We bought it in a repaired land , so it meant that we could concentrate on create the garden and on the interiors . We did n’t have any morphological work to do , which is a huge incentive . ”
Lupine‘Masterpiece ’ andAnthriscus sylvestris‘Ravenswing ’ bloom by the kitchen garden . Photo by : Tom Mannion . SEE MORE exposure OF THIS GARDEN
Apart from New public convenience such as electrical energy , central heating , and adequate plumbing , the inside would not be alien to the ghosts of those who built Allt - y - bela , provide as the room are with flagstone , large opened hearth , and old-hat English furniture .
Every element has realise its shoes in the design scheme as much for its innate appeal and appropriateness as for its utilitarian purpose . Even the jar of Maynard and Collinson ’s homemade press and chutney are artfully dress along shelves in the back passageway . The jarful not only reflect the productivity of the yield and vegetable garden Maynard has nurtured there but serve as a treat for the acres ’s visitors . The couple made three of the five bedroom available for enjoyment as a bed - and - breakfast ( alltybela.co.uk ) , and Maynard holds gardening course every June in the granary building outside ( arnemaynard.com ) . London artist Cornelia O’Donovan ’s playful mural depicting flower and dirt ball from the garden is an unusually decorative motion in the passageway to the dining way .
Pear trees are direct over hazel archway in the kitchen garden . picture by : Tom Mannion . SEE MORE photograph OF THIS GARDEN
Outside is a exchangeable story of pare - down beauty . The garden keeps faith with the house , which was always more rustic than grand . As with many of Maynard ’s creations for his guest — he has design encompassing garden for the Queen of Jordan and for Tricia Guild of Designers Guild — give a sense of place is indispensable . He had no overall program , though . The garden , like the house , just evolved . At Allt - atomic number 39 - bela , he wants to embrace what lie beyond rather than create a separate space . “ I have stripped away all the boundaries — the fences , the hedge , the wall — as they cut the garden off from the setting , ” tell Maynard . “ It is so beautiful that it was important that that landscape roll right to the house walls . ” That ’s not to say he make up on a garden altogether . “ Closer to the planetary house , I have more formalness : the topiary trees and the refined flowers that get behind the rampart that creates a small courtyard garden , ” he says . “ And as you make out out from the prompt vicinity of the household , it becomes more innate , so we go into wildflower meadows and longsighted grass . ” The long grass still has topiary in it , but rather of more formal trees , he clipped the aboriginal hornbeam and hawthorn so “ the garden move back and disappears into the natural environment . ”
It is probably the first fourth dimension in the house ’s recollective history that cultivated peak have been grown for their own sake , and , even now , they are confined to the court and a boxwood knot garden at the back . “ In the early human activity , there is mention of two fruit gardens , ” says Maynard . “ I do n’t believe there would have been a garden here that was decorative ; it would have been very much for sustentation . It would have been very beautiful , exactly my kind of garden . citizenry had to grow their own fruits and vegetables and herb to make tinctures and medicines . ”
In keeping with the spirit of the place , and to feed client without driving miles to the nearest shop , Maynard create a large potager in raise beds , protected against foragers by hazel hurdles and oak tree posts designed by him and craft at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire . It supplies the table but is a beautiful heap as well , with arches made from pear trees and beds lined with whole step - over apples . Gooseberry bushes are get up as standards to resemble spiny all-day sucker . Maynard proceeds cautiously . “ There comes a point where you have to stop adding , ” he says . “ There are lots of garden you go to where they do n’t bonk where to stop and then the magic disappears . ” Indeed , less can be so much more .
Caroline Donald is the gardening editor program atThe Sunday Timesin London .
