Written by: Frank Constable

Cascades garden in derbyshire: The cottage style of gardening must be one of the most successful that has developed over the last 100 years, one of its greatest merits is that it is uninfluenced by fashion. While landscape gardeners argue about style, many of us continue to garden in the traditional way – one which is convenient and fits in with the plants we like and are able to buy or grow easily. Today’s cottage gardeners do not have the same need for thrift and care as their humble predecessors and can be much more generous and splendid with plantings. Cottage gardens are now a pleasing mixture of trees, shrubs, plants and bulbs and can best be defined as having a lack of self-consciousness.

‘Cascades’, the home of Alan and Elizabeth Clements in the attractive old village of Bonsall, is a garden very much in this style. It has been planted in keeping with the ideas of Gertrude Jekyll, the well known gardening architect of the early 1900s who was employed in Derbyshire by the then Lord Scarsdale to advise on the layout of Kedleston Hall’s gardens.

On entering the short drive that leads to the house you are immediately drawn to a waterfall with about a 15-foot drop and realise straight away why the house is called ‘Cascades’. The Bonsall Brook runs through the garden, dividing in two with one half becoming the millrace, which feeds the cascade and the other half taking a more leisurely level route through the garden. The banks of both streams have been thoughtfully planted with hostas, iris, primulas, water buttercups and other water-loving subjects. The natural stream systems and its associated ponds adds immensely to the beauty of this very attractive garden.

On the site of an old mill, the mill owner built the present house in 1823 for his son. Over the years, the garden has seen many changes and when Alan and Elizabeth became the occupants some seven years ago it was very different. Now it is planted as a garden for all seasons, on different levels and set out in various ‘rooms’. Some four acres and at the base of an attractive rock face over which clumps of established green ivy have been carefully grown to break up the hard surface, the garden has been integrated into the surrounding countryside. At the top of the rock face – from where there are excellent views both of the garden below and of the distant countryside – is a fine group of older trees. Linking to them throughout the garden are other forest trees which have been surrounded by stretches of grass set with wildflowers and bulbs – snowdrops followed by daffodils then bluebells (recently voted the most popular countryside flower). Trees make a difference to any garden, particularly if maintained in a proper manner as they are here. Beech, oak, and occasional lime and yews some century and a half old, are coupled with conifers and evergreens, which make a pleasant winter scene. In addition to the established trees Alan and Elizabeth have planted for the future, setting young trees in bold clumps.

On Moving down the garden away from the house there are some impressive formal plantings of shrubs and perennials together with annuals and seasonal bulbs. These are backed by arches covered with clematis, honeysuckle and roses offering bursts of colour to welcome the summer. This mixed planting is ideal for the cottage garden effect with delphiniums, peonies, iris and lupins as well as some less familiar plants and a shady border of hostas and hellebores.

One delightful corner forms a winter garden that is a true miniature of the well-known winter gardens at Cambridge Botanic Gardens. Conifers in their shades of green, blue and yellow are supported by winter flowering vibutnums, colourful-stemmed cornus and silver stems of Rubus cocburnianus which later has attractive fern-like leaves.

Following a footpath through a central arch a new planting in an island bed of perennials attracted my attention. Established in keeping with the principles of Alan Bloom – the well known expert on perennial plants who holds many Royal Horticultural Society awards for his work – great care has been taken with the planting – height, shape and mass have all been taken into account. Anyone contemplating such a planting should be sure to pay particular attention to the width of the bed, which should be in proportion to the size of garden but measure a minimum of five feet and ideally nine feet or more to allow for a balanced, more versatile group of plants.

Close by is a rose shrubbery set with a variety of roses, including many Old English shrub roses, which give a display of flowers from early summer through to late autumn. In the spring swathes of snowdrops followed by daffodils and bluebells full the flowering gap and in summer hardy geraniums are spread amongst the borders.

Adjoining is an almost organic vegetable garden – slugs are a tremendous problem. A wide range of vegetables is grown, including early potatoes which are set in pots in the tunnel greenhouse. The greenhouse is used to grow a range of other plants, many of which have been propagated from the garden. Very healthy looking plants are carefully lined up and the floor neatly swept. Next you come to the mysterious entrance to an old lead mine and the newly planted orchard. It has been set with a variety of fruit trees including apples, pears and cherries, all of which have made an excellent start in cropping at such a height above sea level.

Rising from here is the steep bank of newly planted forest trees with their carpeting of wild flowers through which a footpath leads to the cliff top walk.

Cottage gardening to such a high level requires constant attention, particularly because of the elements that prevail in these higher parts of the county. The soil of the garden has an alkaline base so care has to be taken when planting certain subjects – either to choose those that tolerate a lime soil or to use plenty of compost when planting acid-loving plants. The care that has obviously been taken reflects the owners’ love of gardening with even the most difficult tasks enthusiastically handled. A wealth of wildlife, with the exception of slugs, is made welcome with butterflies, frogs, bats, foxes and badgers frequenting the garden. Birds of prey include an occasional rare buzzard and there are wagtails and woodpeckers with the highlight of dippers playing along the watercourses.

In comparison with the rigid appearance of many urban gardens it is a real pleasure to visit a garden such as ‘Cascades’ which takes as its inspiration the beauty of the countryside.

Published in “Derbyshire life magazine” in June 2003