LIVE24SEVEN // Property & Interiors G A RDENING – WI T H C AMI L L A B A S S E T T - SMI T H


Through The Garden Gate


This month our media horticulturalist, Camilla Bassett-Smith, lifts her petticoats and steps into a vintage coach for a journey to one of this country’s finest private gardens…


Spetchley Park in Worcestershire – home of the Berkeley family for over 400 years and home to 30 acres of the most beautiful gardens.


The imposing house is built of Bath Stone and dates to 1811, replacing the original Tudor building, which once stood in its place. Like stamen at the centre of a bloom, this home is at the heart of the surrounding grounds, which have recently been subject to the highly successful Spetchley Revival Project, funded by numerous donors including the Heritage Lottery Fund and Country Houses Foundation.


This long-term project is designed to secure the gardens for future generations


and has in part contributed to a 70% increase in visitor numbers in recent times. Many believe this to be one of the top 10 private gardens in this country and it’s not hard to see why. It has an excellent botanical pedigree for a start – the celebrated horticulturalist Ellen Willmott was sister of Rose Berkeley and between them they designed many parts of the garden in the Victorian era from the large mixed borders to the Fountain Gardens – four individual garden rooms surrounding a central fountain. Alongside Gertrude Jekyll, Willmott was one of only two women in 1897 to receive the Victoria Medal of Honour and her impact on Spetchley lives on today. She had a cheeky habit of scattering Eryngium seeds when she visited gardens and as a result these plants became known as ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghosts’, flowering long after she’d left. A border at Spetchley still glows silvery white in their presence.


This is a plantsperson’s paradise – so much to see from rarities to traditional border favourites. The Melon Yard offers up a fantastic specimen of the bright orange double flowered pomegranate – at its best right now and elsewhere a riot of roses is ongoing. Agapanthus excel in the sheltered borders alongside the ancient brick walls – ‘Ben Hope’ being a particular beauty.


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Camilla Bassett-Smith


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