Our plot, now called ‘Clouds Garden Lodge’, was the kitchen garden for Clouds House, ‘the house of the age’ when it was completed in 1886. It was built for the local aristocratic Wyndham family and designed by the architect Philip Webb. The prosperity of the house, garden and estate was short-lived and the estate fell into disrepair after the first World War. Clouds House is now an addiction recovery centre but its history remains central to East Knoyle, the main village which also takes in the settlements of The Green (where we are), Upton and Milton.
The walled garden lies about 300 yards away and out of sight from the house, in a gentle valley surrounded by areas of woodland which, in the absence of far views, provide the backdrop to the site. The rectangular garden wall is 3 to 4 metres high in rich Victorian brick in a classic English Bond pattern. Most, but by no means all, of the ivy has been stripped from the beautiful walls. There are charming entrances to the west and north walls with rotten oak gates that must be replaced and an oak ‘loggia’ over a well on the east side – a future gin and tonic location once it’s been made safe ….
In one corner we’ve lost an area to the adjoining property, the former head gardener’s cottage, which is a shame. In the opposite corner the unsympathetic 1970s bungalow has been plonked down and sits in an apologetic way, empty and home only to a solitary brown long-eared bat – more of him later!
There’s the odd fuchsia, hydrangea and box plant that delineate a former garden to the bungalow but generally the plot is devoid of any interest, stripped of trees and with largely unmown grass and the occasional patch of nettles and brambles. Having been used as the kitchen garden, a market garden and then after World War II, a poultry farm, the soil should be well-fertilised. A blank canvas, one could say! There are no water features but there is water on-site so the opportunity exists to introduce something interesting.
Chris and Bev - Heads in the Clouds 