A small classical garden on an historic site
A journey from wasteland and former working yard to a garden reflecting the work of the leading 20th Century landscape designer, Geoffrey Jellicoe, and the Cotswold garden designer and plantswoman, Rosemary Verey. This garden was taken back under the control of the landlords, the Ditchley Foundation, unexpectedly, as part of a review of their properties in 2023. It's current status and condition is unknown.
The Potager
The form and structure of the potager was inspired by the Geoffrey Jellicoe designs for the Italian Garden at the main Ditchley Park mansion, with parallel-box-lined beds containing free-form and geometric shapes, along with the distinctive filled box square and corner topiary, including the distinctive cyclinder, which is replicated here.
The planting that fills the semi-formal structure was inspired by Rosemary Verey's potager at Barnsley in nearby Gloucestershire. The planting is eclectic, with both fruit and vegetables, perennials and annual cutting flower crops rotated through the beds.
There is also a rectangular pond that mirrors Jellicoe's designs at Ditchley Park and Shute House in Dorset. The pond here was dug out from an old engine inspection pit. The buildings either side of the potager were derelict and were rebuilt to create a garden room for guests, two sheds, and a library that looks out onto a small gravelled terrace.
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The Herb Garden
In 2004, the current residents took over a house that had no established garden, as the surrounding area had been used by the estate as a working forestry yard. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the space directly behind the main house, where brambles, bindweed and elder ruled, along with an ancient Virginia creeper that had nearly strangled the old lilac tree to death.
Using reclaimed stone from collapsed walls on the property, the residents created a double dry-stone walled raised bed which now forms the left-hand side of this late afternoon suntrap.
The lilac tree is now happily restored to full health, and the range of pots and containers here shows the area has become both a place for entertaining with a fire pit, and a plant nursery and hospital.
Only two of the roses on the back wall of the raised bed are original to the garden, the rest of the planting is new, including the giant wooden planters with magnolia stellata and giant sedums.
The Meadow
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The large bank behind the main lawn at Forester's House is much larger than the short steep slope that existed here in 2004, and this is because the rubble and soil from the substantial groundworks were retained on site to create a more practical slope with a larger and more level top.
Along the 18th Century walls, huge amounts of ivy were cut back and parts of the wall were stabilised, before 25 climbing, shrub and rambling roses were planted to provide a spectacular June display. Varieties planted here include Winston Churchill (reflecting the wartime resident of the main mansion, born at nearby Blenheim Palace), Gertrude Jekyll, and Fedinand Pichard, as well as a supporting cast of crane's bill geraniums, lavenders and poppies that all thrive in this very well-drained part of the garden.
The bank and lawn has been encouraged to develop as a healthy meadow, with native bee orchids, snake's head fritillaries, yellow rattle and cow parsley all helping to build the biodiversity of the garden. This meadow has been managed alongside a much larger modern meadow in Lower Oddington, sharing much of the planting.
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The Queen's Bed
Building a rich perennial bed at 450 feet in West Oxfordshire is not the hardest job in gardening, but the cooler climate does tend to mean this bed has a much more impressive display later in the season.
The dahlias here are intended to reflect the stunning dahlia bed in the walled gardens at nearby Rousham, designed by William Kent, along with a powerful display of delphiniums, salvias, sedum, cat mint and majestic cynara.
The 'main bed' was renamed The Queen's Bed for the Platinum Jubilee, and has looked even better since the new name took hold.
The gaps in the bed are filled every year with a changing variety of annuals, propagated here during the spring (in a plastic green house which is put away by June). The land behind the wall was dense with conifers when the bed was planted, but recent harvesting of the pine has opened up a beautful area of deciduous woodland behind and added to the magical view of the bed against the ancient red brick wall.
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Geoffrey Jellicoe
"The world is moving into a phase when landscape design may well be recognized as the most comprehensive of the arts. Man creates around him an environment that is a projection into nature of his abstract ideas. It is only in the present century that the collective landscape has emerged as a social necessity. We are promoting a landscape art on a scale never conceived of in history."
Upcoming Events
Visit Forester's House
We welcome visitors to the garden at Forester's House by appointment, and it is a wonderful place to visit and have a picnic. Please contact us and we'd be happy to show you around. Forester's House is located on a large private estate, so you cannot just swing by to have a look.