‘ A Cottage ’ is how Georgina , sixth Duchess of Bedford , described her country home at Endsleigh in Devon . Most visitors today , whether to the garden or elegant hotel , would account it in somewhat grander tones , but after the formality of Woburn Abbey , the Duchess wished for something far more bumpkinly . Endsleigh was her passion , make in the likeness of her ancestral vacation home in Scotland . She chose the smear for her West Country get away personally , on a loop-the-loop in the River Tamar , with Devon on one side and Cornwall on the other . Then and now , all that can been seen from house ’s terrace is a vast amphitheatre of woodland and cultivated land without another dwelling in sight : two ancient counties interlocking as one slam of trees after the next plunges towards the dividing water .
The first stone at Endsleigh was position in 1810 , following a excogitation imbibe up by architect Jeffry Wyatt , later Sir Jeffry Wyatville . ( A striking regency architect , Wyatt earned the suffix ‘ ville ’ , and his knighthood , after remodelling Windsor Castle for George IV . ) Wyatt cooperate with celebrated landscape painting designer Humphry Repton on the task after the Duchess expressed disappointment in the architect ’s initial layout for the grounds . It was to be one of Repton ’s last commissions ( he died in 1818 ) , but his great experience did not prevent him from embracing the raise fashion for the Picturesque style . If ever there was a site beseem to this romantic genre , characterise by bumpkinly building , craggy cliffs , dump ravines and ‘ heightened nature ’ it was Endsleigh , and Repton perish to town .
“ My Lord , in delivering that judgment which Your Grace has done me the honour to require concerning the treatment of the scene at Endsleigh , it is impossible to divest myself of the spirit , that the most picturesque subject on which I have ever been professionally consulted , should be reserved to so lately a period in my life-time … .. in such a project I should joyfully give every energy of dead body , limbs and mind , although of these , only the latter to the full remains . ”
Humphry Repton in the prolusion to his red book for Endsleigh Cottage , 1814 .
As with his other commissions , Repton acquire for the Duke and Duchess one of his gilded crimson books , describing in words and pictures his vision for the pleasance yard . ( A facsimile copy is displayed in the hotel ’s hall . ) By the clock time of his four mean solar day sojourn in August 1814 Repton was already quite debile and had to be carried around the ground in a sedan chairperson . What he opine was a landscape painting with “ steepness of solid ground – abrupt rocks – and piss in rapid question ” with fairly rather than grand formalness nearer to the house . For an estate occupied by the owner for just a few week each year , the plan were challenging and at long last prohibitory . The cost of make Endsleigh leave behind the 6th Duke in serious debt by the fourth dimension of his death and it was never loved again as it was by his Duchess .
Fast forward exactly 200 years from when Repton ’s proposal were made and Endsleigh remains almost inviolate , one of the finest surviving illustration of his work . gayly , as a rather posh hotel , there is once again a business which value the peace and privacy of this prodigious placement . fiscal consideration mean that not all the ideas in Repton ’s cerise leger were action , but most of the work that was dribble out by the Duke and Duchess can be seen and appreciated today . Head Gardener Simon was genial enough to take me on a guided hitch , explaining the joys and challenges of maintaining such an historically of import garden .
Viewed from the banks of the River Tamar, it’s easy to understand the sixth Duchess of Bedford’s passion for Endsleigh
We begin our walk in the Dairy Dell , not all of which is accessible , but sufficient to appreciate the scurf ( and success ) of Repton ’s vision . The not bad landscape gardener disclose in this south - confront dingle the perfect ingredients for a picturesque aspect . The Edgecumbe stream was dammed and diverted to make a organisation of stream , waterfalls , cascades and pools , most of which still function as intend . The crests of the ridges to either side were engraft with marvellous tree , such as Douglas fir , Nordman fir , beech and sweet chestnut tree to motivate the height of the ravine . A modest , sheltered microclimate was created that suit giant rhubarb ( Gunnera manicata ) , bamboos , rhododendrons and camelia , which were embed in clumps and groves to suggest they had arrived there of their own accord . One can imagine the Duke and Duchess ’ guests in rapture over this forceful landscape painting , seemingly natural but really anything but . Simon distinguish how he still manipulates the catamenia of water to create dramatic event and excitement , even maintaining branches overhanging waterfall so that icicle will form on them in wintertime . I can only cogitate that Repton would have deeply approved .
All is not as idyllic as it seems , and Simon points out the difficulty in maintain such a precipitous area . Rock face up need to be keep open clear of brambles , Japanese knotweed andRhododendron ponticumhave to be kept at bay and heavy rain can destroy path and topple trees . Clearing debris along narrow-minded paths with no vehicular access can be hard and dangerous work . Simon ’s overture is to keep up the dell as Repton would have envisioned it , defend a careful balance between naturalism and wild . It ’s a garden he ’s known and loved for many years and it shows . He points out a weeping beech , its branches pounce low and resting on Boulder by the side of the central flow . The sunlight dance on the basis as it trickle through the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ’s leaves . A more picturesque scene it ’s voiceless to imagine .
At the groundwork of the ravine Repton seat a thatch dairy construction , in which the Duchess would ‘ play ’ at being a Milk River maiden . The restored inside is remarkably hunky-dory , with swallow hole crafted from nerveless grey Ashburton marble and the walls adorned with Wedgwood tiles . From the veranda of the Dairy can be see a declamatory pond and Endsleigh ’s most ancient feature article , the Holy Well , a baptismal font originally sit at the hunt seat of the Abbots of Tavistock Abbey .
The long border is planted to give hotel guests enjoyment throughout the growing season
The Grade I listed rockery is approached via a unconscionable flight of Harlan Fiske Stone steps , which passes through a noteworthy burrow worry by bat . The quality of the build is here much in evidence as the burrow has not moved or fail at any time in its 200 class account . Repton ’s vision of gnarled oak tree and cedarwood perched on overhanging boulder has come to fruition , but at times results in calamities when limbs or trunks are severed by storms . Maintaining such a landscape requires more beastly force and persistence than delicacy , but Simon was incisive to place out one of the garden ’s fine tree , Halesia monticola , the mountain snowdrop Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , which carpets the slope in leap with million of tiny bloodless efflorescence .
Not much is known about the original planting of the rockery , but it is mean to have been occupied by ferns and is maintained as such . The Picturesque style demand the garden to be esthetically pleasing rather than pristine and so foxgloves and aboriginal ferns are encouraged to seed themselves about . Planted in the 1920s , Endsleigh has some exquisite mature acers , which must be just weeks forth from being at their finest .
The gardens around the house show much greater formality than the dell , although Repton would have liked them to be more fanciful . A feature designed by Wyatt , which exists almost exactly as the architect would have guess it , is the Parterre . This fan - shaped garden between the main cottage and the childrens ’ wing , was design with slight ones in creative thinker . The radiating beds , some composed of pebbles rather than works , are bordered by a body of water - filled channel in which the Duchess ’ thirteen children played with their sailing boats . Today the border are filled with a simple colour mix of yearly Salvia sclarea , Salvia viridis .
A view down the Dairy Dell from one of Repton’s typically rustic bridges
Now that Endsleigh is head for the hills as an hotel , it ’s important that the area at the front of the star sign affords as much twelvemonth - round interest as possible . The centre of attention is undoubtedly the spill long boundary line , reputedly the longest , unplowed stretch of herbaceous planting in England . An image in Repton ’s ruddy Scripture picture the retentive border backed by an elegant conservatory , fretwork arbours and incise hedge . These were never realised , although the perforate retaining wall was .
In summer the planting basks in unmediated sun from 8 am until dusk , perfect stipulation for herbaceous perennial , although challenge for the nurseryman in a wry spell . The borderline was restore in 1998 and looked perfectly splendid during our stop . Simon ’s team flora yard of mixed tulip lightbulb in November to quetch off the spring show before the perennials get proceed . Golden - leaved dogwoods , Cornus alba‘Aurea ’ AGM , are a masterstroke in the planting , lifting the purples , reds and pinks out of mediocrity . get the look is gentle , as most of the plant in this border are widely usable .
Essential Endsleigh Plants for Autumn colour :
The gardeners at Endsleigh constantly adjust the flow and direction of water to create picturesque effects
Any walk at Endsleigh should end at the Shell House , another Wyatt creation , designed as a summerhouse to display geologic specimens and shells . A burbling well fills the crepuscle with therapeutic auditory sensation , ‘ a great gin and tonic spot ’ , says Simon .
From the terrace outside the grot there are astounding sight across the valley to a bend in the Tamar , the water rushing over stone around the black rock’n’roll , a illustrious Salmon River sportfishing spot . Simon plans to absent some seedling ash tree trees which are start to block the vista . Maintaining Repton and Wyatt ’s plan for Endsleigh need pertinacity , vision and not just a little hard cash . Hopefully in the work force of Simon and the current owners , the Polizzis , the particular passion the Duchess of Bedford had for Endsleigh Cottage will endure .
With thanks toHotel Endsleighand Head Gardener Simon for his worthful time and amazing cognition .
The dell’s central stream flows beneath the boughs of Simon’s favourite tree, a weeping beech
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category : Flowers , Foliage , Garden Design , Landscape Design , Large Gardens , Perennials , Plants , Trees and Shrubs
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
Apart from the tumbling stream, which was constructed further to the right of the dairy, this bucolic scene is recognisable today
The fabulously complex rockery is made up of stone from all over the country, barged up the Tamar to Endsleigh
Repton’s adjustments to Wyatt’s Parterre, which included a small boating pool, appear not to have been made.
Endsleigh’s parterre is currently filled with a simple combination of bedding and neutral pebbles
Repton hoped for a more elaborate treatment to the long border and croquet lawn
The early morning mist hovers above the herbaceous border, amongst the longest in England
Endsleigh’s long border is cleverly devised to be colourful right through the autumn
The roof of the Shell House was once covered with climbers and is occasionally used for wedding ceremonies
One can only imagine that Repton and Wyatt would have approved of this picturesque scene on the Tamar, below Endsleigh Cottage
