Last weekend we visited Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. It is a stunningly beautiful medieval hall set on a slope above the River Wye near Bakewell in Derbyshire. Set amid stunning rolling countryside and swathed in roses, it is a romantic, gentle gem of a house. But for me, the true treasures are its gardens. Set into terraces, the old Elizabethan gardens have been sensitively brought up to date, (without losing their sense of formal, yet rambling, ancient structure) by well-known garden designer Arne Maynard.
Arne has an innate understanding of how to create the ‘bones’ of a garden, and I love the structural elements he has used at Haddon. In particular the ‘copper beech cubes’ which he has used on the fountain terrace garden strike a perfect balance between formal structure whilst adding a contemporary edge.
Topiary (be it box, yew or native deciduous trees such as hornbeam and beech) is fantastic for creating scale and structure, and I always try to incorporate some element of topiary into my designs. Arne’s’ clever use of topiary, softened by roses and wild flowers create a perfect trio of harmony at Haddon Hall.
