Restored 15th-Century House by Ptolemy Dean Features Thoughtfully Crafted Garden by Tom Stuart-Smith
In the heart of the picturesque Kent countryside, a historic Tudor yeoman farmer's house, dating back to 1485, is surrounded by a beautifully remodelled garden that pays homage to the legendary Great Dixter garden style while embracing modernity and environmental consciousness.
The new owners, who desired a garden that maintained the peaceful and quiet setting of the estate, enlisted the expertise of landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith to remodel the garden. His brief was to create a beautiful garden around the house, embodying the spirit and character of Great Dixter, renowned for its distinctive garden style.
Stuart-Smith's design incorporates key elements such as topiary and yew hedges, signature features of Great Dixter's historic approach to garden structure and formality. The garden is a harmonious blend of traditional and modern styles, with mixed borders inspired by the Great Dixter tradition, blending herbaceous and shrub planting to create rich, layered textures and seasonal interest.
The garden showcases a diverse planting palette, favouring climate-resilient plants to promote biodiversity and enhance ecological value. Eight of Stuart-Smith's stand-out plants in the garden are Asclepias incarnata, Bupleurum fruticosum, Parthenium integrifolium, Galtonia candicans, Desmodium elegans, Eryngium yuccifolium, Sanguisorba 'Cangshan Cranberry', and Dierama pulcherrimum 'Blackbird'.
The pool garden, with its taller and looser planting, features some of Stuart-Smith's trademark American prairie plants. Great swathes of Bistorta amplexicaulis, Eupatorium maculatum, and Verbena hastata f. rosea are present, adding a vibrant touch to the landscape.
The garden's design respects the rural estate setting, blending modern planting techniques with the historic English garden tradition, creating a naturalistic yet refined landscape that is both artistic and ecologically sensitive. This thoughtful remodeling merges tradition with innovation, capturing the essence of Great Dixter while responding to contemporary environmental and aesthetic considerations.
Car parking has been moved away from the house to preserve the rural aspect of the estate and open up the countryside views. The house, a Grade II*-listed building, has later additions and is surrounded by ancient oaks, offering unspoilt views of the surrounding landscape.
The current owner, a keen flower arranger, finds the garden very important. The new owners have continued to cherish the peaceful natural beauty of the estate, preserving its tranquil atmosphere while embracing the fresh interpretation of traditional garden design brought about by Tom Stuart-Smith's work. His combination of naturalism and modernity has resulted in a visually compelling and environmentally robust garden, marrying the formal elements of Great Dixter with a contemporary ethos of biodiversity and climate resilience.
- The beautifully remodeled garden surrounding the Tudor house is a harmonious blend of traditional and modern styles, creating a picturesque landscape that embodies the spirit of Great Dixter.
- Landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith has incorporated signature features of Great Dixter, such as topiary and yew hedges, into his design, while blending modern planting techniques to promote biodiversity and enhance ecological value.
- The garden showcases a diverse planting palette, with eight stand-out plants being Asclepias incarnata, Bupleurum fruticosum, Parthenium integrifolium, Galtonia candicans, Desmodium elegans, Eryngium yuccifolium, Sanguisorba 'Cangshan Cranberry', and Dierama pulcherrimum 'Blackbird'.
- The garden, with its modern planting techniques respecting the rural estate setting, serves as an artistic and ecologically sensitive expression of Great Dixter that merges tradition with innovation, catering to contemporary environmental and aesthetic sensibilities.
