Though not a formal garden as such, Bryan's Ground in Herefordshire offers some truly amazing details of formal planning. I am referring to certain details in the riguorous and geometrical apple orchard, the sinouus but otherwise very clean brick borders of the basin and the green alleys of clipped and trimmed boxes and laurels.
The garden is structured in several green chambers, with different moods, most corners are beautiful examples of English landscape with lavish clematis and campanulas in a symphony of lavender and pale blue hues.
But what impresses me most, is the orchard. Each tree is cleanly embeded in a rectangle of pale blue Iris sibirica "Papillion" set in a carpet of soft trimmed lawn. There is a riguorous Elizbethan planting layout of the trees, but the Iris rectangles add definitely a contemporary twist. The effect is crisp and elegant.
After the admittedly short flowering period of the Irises, the sword like leaves still form square cushions underneath the apple canopy.
On one side, the orchard ends with this sinuous brick festooned pool which echoes the meanders of a peaceful river.
Contact information for Bryan’s Ground
- E-mail all@hortus.co.uk
- Address Bryan’s Ground
Stapleton (Nr. Presteigne)
Herefordshire LD8 2LP
United Kingdom - Telephone (44)1544 260001
