Garden Inspiration – the Coach House, Ampney Crucis

I don’t know about you, but I love visiting other peoples’ gardens. It’s an ideal way to get some garden inspiration. So when I heard there was a plant sale just 20 minutes from me, in the stunning garden of Mel Tanner (aka The Generous Gardener) I just had to go.

Well, what a glorious time I had! Although the weather was a bit ‘iffy’, I was able to wander around the garden at my leisure, buy some plants and drink free tea accompanied by a delicious chocolate brownie. I was living the dream!

So, other than calories, what else did I pick up in terms of design and plant ideas from my trip? Plenty!

Quick Note!

This is the second time I’ve visited the garden, the first was back in September. So I’m using images from both trips in this blog.

Creating Views

If you’re looking for ideas for creating views, this is the garden for you! Mel Tanner started creating the Coach House garden in 1989. It covers about 1.5 acres and is situated in the village of Ampney Crucis. Despite being in a lovely part of the world, the garden doesn’t benfit from having views of the countryside around it. So she has had to build into the design wonderful internal vistas. And it has these in spades!

The garden is divided into a series of rooms and the approach to each has been cleverly thought through. Some are grand like this beautiful walkway which plays on uniformity and symmetry. Others are far more informal, but no less striking.

For instance, when I visited the gardens back in September I loved the planting around this wooden door way which perfectly frames the view.

I also admire thinking behind the next view. The symmetry of the box hedging leads the eye to a wooden archway and grecian column area. But all of this formality if disrupted by a circular flower bed, domed planting and domed trees, which serve to soften the effect.

There are other views simpler than this, but no less clever. For example this simple narrow step on the left becomes a real feature when emphasised by strong hedging. While on the right, you have steps, a tightly shaped tree and a hedge clipped into a slope, all creating a perfectly balanced effect, drawing your eye to the looser planted area behind. I love it!

Garden Inspiration – Shapes

As you can see, shape plays a massive part in making the views and indeed the garden as a whole work. For example the curve of the stone archway entrance for the view below is mirrored by the curving hedge backdrop. But imagine, if the obelisks weren’t in the picture? The view might be a bit ‘samey’. The pointed obelisks cleverly provide a contrast, eliminating any risk of monotony and their pale blue colour ensures the eye picks them up.

This is a really valuable lesson for me as I’m planning to put three pointed obelisks in my semi-shaded bed, to provide a bit of formal contrast to all of its wild (some might say scruffy) planting. As my garden is pretty rustic I would have probably gone for plain metal structures. But what I’ve seen at the Coach House is making me think again. If my obelisks are to do their job and have the effect I want, I now realise I probably need to have them in a stronger, contrasting colour. Rustic metal will be lost.

Garden Inspiration – Pathways

I identified pathways as a key ingredient of successful small gardens in my blog last week. They are crucial in large gardens too. With such a large space, Mel Tanner obviously has scope to have impactful, long straight paths which provide formality and drama. But her garden also has wonderful curving paths, beautifully planted up. Something any of us could emulate with our much smaller gardens. You want to go round the corner and see what lies beyond!

Big Drama

There’s plenty of drama in the Coach House garden, but perhaps the statement area is the rill. Talk about a water feature! It’s incredibly long, elegant and plays on the notion of symmetry which you see all over this garden. At one end is a huge Gunnera (I’m guessing). Mel if you read this and I’m wrong please tell me! This stands in front of a curving white bench .

Then, balanced planting, accompanies the rill as it travels through the space. The white benches at the end, almost mirror the seating behind the Gunnera. The whole effect is stunning.

Now few of us have space for this. But I’ve definitely noticed that the area of my own garden which gets the most comments is my line of Catalpas underplanted with hydrangeas. I planted these as screening plants to hide a garden eyesore.

Looking back it was quite a brave move planting trees in a line like this. For instance, what if a middle tree or hydrangea died, the whole effect would be ruined! But now it’s all fine and creates a definite wow factor.

However my catalpas don’t start creating that impact until June. So I don’t have the year round drama which Mel’s rill offers.

So I’d say it’s definitely worth taking a risk or two to find our own way to inject drama into our gardens. If you can take your garden inspiration from the Coach House and create that drama with something which works all year round, so much the better.

Pots

As regular readers of my blog will know, I’m a real pot and container fan. And I took considerable garden inspiration from the way Mel Tanner uses pots not simply to house lovely plants but to create punctuation points and impact.

The plants around this pot – alchemilla mollis and box – are as important as what’s in it. In fact nothing is in it! The curving form of the planting beautifully emphasises the lovely pot’s shape, making it a real focal point.

A traditional urn again provides another point of impact. Its bleached white colour provides punch against a dark backdrop.

This gorgeous large pot below is surrounded by the most stunning white honeysuckle (I think). But this is no casual pot placement. Imagine the scene without the container. The plant would still be beautiful but without the contrast of the formal shape of the pot, it would have far less impact.

This is clever clever thinking and again a source of real garden inspiration for me. I don’t have any pots which aren’t filled with things, but I have plenty of wild places in my garden. I’ve been thinking that I may be need to add more structured shrubs to these areas. However, perhaps a statement clay pot, strategically placed, would provide some of the discipline my unruly planting needs.

There are pleny of beautifully planted up containers in this garden too. I love this soft grey green foliage which works so sympathetically not just with the container colours but also with the hard landscaping materials near by. Gorgeous.

Garden Inspiration – Think Details

What I also found very thought provoking about the garden was the details. For instance, at the end of the rill area is a very handsome figure of a dog. I’m guessing a treasured pet. From a distance you can’t pick it out of the darkness. But I don’t think that’s the point. The sculpture isn’t there to provide a punctuation point. It’s not an alternative to an urn, it’s a highly personal, if very handsome touch which you truly enjoy when up close.

I also love the use of curved box hedging behind the white bench in the rill area. Many of us wouldn’t be bothered with this extra layer or complexity. Or perhaps we wouldn’t think of it. After all, the seating area would be fine without it. But this garden isn’t going for ‘fine’. It’s going for glorious. I love this level of detail.

Garden Inspiration – Planting

Whether it’s the simplicity of the planting around this hive, or the wonderful marrying of planting, hedging and walls and structures, at every turn the planting in the garden is very inpiring.

For instance, the red of this Acer is cleverly picked out by the reddish tint in the tiny flowers of the Tellima Grandiflora.

This rose together with the variagated shrub and the pale stonework make for a magical combination.

I’m a big euphorbia fan, but I haven’t seen Euphorbia Mellifera before. This door way makes good use of this semi evergreen shrub’s height (it grows to around 1.8 metres tall). And I’ve read it has honey scented flowers which make it popular with bees. I really love it. I’m wondering if I could have one in a big container framing our gateway. Mmmm yet more garden inspiration!

So that’s it. The end of my tour of the Coach House. It has given me lots to think about. I certainly cannot replicate its scale and formality, and to be honest that’s not my style. But there’s a tremendous amount of clever garden inspiration which I’m going to take away from my visit.

Happy gardening! x