Property showcase
or a beautiful home surrounded by exceptional gardens. Either way, though, it is one of the most special homes to have entered the local market recently. Indeed, the current owners have been hanging onto it for the past 17 years and it is a wonder why they would ever want to let it go. These owners, like those who have
H
come and gone before them, are rather important to Hanham Court. Their names, Julian and Isabel Bannerman (the husband-and-wife team behind I&J Bannerman Ltd), have become bywords over the past 25 years for garden design. They’ve won a gold medal at Chelsea, were commissioned to design the British Memorial Garden in New York in remembrance of the victims of 9/11, and were even granted a Royal Warrant for their work at the gardens of HRH Prince Charles at Highgrove in 2003. Since they bought their home at
Hanham Court nearly two decades ago, they have certainly left their mark: it was named Garden Illustrated’s No.1 Dreamy Garden in the UK in 2010. “It was incredibly run-down – roof
falling in, barn falling in even more than it is now, the windows needed reglazing, lawn you could hardly look down for fallen trees...” says Julian of the garden when they first arrived. Since then, the grounds have become a
testing ground for the couple’s big ideas: the biggest being a garden that would smell divine. Pelargonium has been chosen for its sharp scent of lemonbalm, philadelphus for its hints of bubblegum, magnolia for its heady fragrance in spring. It’s a visual feast for the eyes, too. At once traditional and formal – a
bowling lawn, ruined archway, yew topiary, roses, tulips, tree peonies and delphiniums – the gardens also feel as though they have always been this way; growing naturally, organically and, at times, wildly around the house. A walnut tree spreads 80ft across. The
orchard in its shadow delivers waves of snowdrops, primroses, cowslips, cowparsley and other wild flowers after winter. Apple trees have been bearing fruit here for the past 15 years, while Norfolk
82 Clifton Life
www.mediaclash.co.uk
The garden is at once formal and yet feels like it has always been here, growing naturally and organically around the house
anham Court, depending on your point of view, is either a collection of exceptional gardens with the added bonus of a beautiful home,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108