Echo of Miss Havisham

You, no doubt, remember Miss Havisham in Dickens' Great Expectations. The day she was to be married Miss Havisham learned she had been jilted by the man she loved, so she decided to spend the rest of her life in her wedding gown, never changing a thing in the house, including the wedding breakfast table holding the decaying wedding cake. There is a garden in our area that makes me think of Miss Havisham. That garden was built on a grand scale and is very attractive in its faded  grandeur.

The house and garden were conceived and built by a single man. The house is just as intriguing as the garden. It has a split personality. On the road side, you see a very attractive Mission style cottage. On the garden side, is a Georgian style house that seems to belong to a Jane Austen novel.

Road side

Garden side

One section of the garden that is particularly evocative of Miss Havisham must have been conceived as a traditional English vegetable garden. The area is completely surrounded by a stone wall and includes an attractive greenhouse/orangerie structure. However  that building is filled with Virginia creeper and the enclosed area is a wilderness.

An orangerie in the walled garden

Adding to the eeriness of the place is the fact that despite having visited this garden a dozen times, we have never seen anyone there. Not the owner, nor, for that matter, any other visitor. There is a large sign on the road indicating that the garden is open to the public, but the donation box by the parking area suggests you will not find an attendant or the owner, and you don't.

The house (houses?) and garden are beautiful. I would however reduce the number of concrete figures, too numerous in some sections. I have the impression they were all cast on the premises.

There are hundreds of concrete objects

The garden is actually as well maintained as it can be by a single person. To have all areas kept manicured with a diversity of plants would require a staff of ten.

All the beds in this area are filled with bugleweed (Ajuga), a good choice in the circumstances

The plant that is most planted in the garden is goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) which looks rather good used on such a scale. It certainly reduces the need for maintenance.

Path bordered by goutweed

 It is obviously not a plantsman's garden. You will not appreciate it, if you are looking for rare plants. The beauty lies in the very good design.

Stairs with more goutweed

Border of hosta and hortensia

The garden includes a maze, but we have never ventured into it, seriously worried that we might never come out! It might not be complex, but, looked at from the outside, that maze seems quite large, certainly big enough to get lost in!