Water Gardens
Water; the element that can lift a garden from simply beautiful to the sublime. Blessed are those who have water naturally flowing in abundance but for those who are not so blessed we must give it a go. Creating any water garden, whatever the size is a nerve wracking challenge. My years of experience has lent me a degree of confidence.
There was no natural source of water in this area that was over run by a dense thicket of laurel surrounding impoverished lawn. Two ponds were dug to allow water to be circulated. The floating stepping stones inspired directly from Japan. The rocks around the edges hide the pond liner and create planting pockets.
Two years after construction, the illusion of a place that might have always been there is more or less complete. Garden as a dream world.
The first year of three, restoring the old water gardens at Lydney Park. Four ponds fed by a small stream had all but filled with silt, some for as long as 25 years. Dredging brought hundreds of crawfish that were moved to a place upstream to crawl their way back in time for a fresh start.
The following spring, after power washing rocks and stepping stones, light enters this oriental styled world, first created in the 1950s.
Ashby Manor as photographed for Country Life after the house had been given an Edwin Luytens and Gertrude Jekyll makeover. The challenge was to create a good circulation of water and to raise the level.
one small adjustment was to create steps and replace the grass surround to the canal with gravel. Sacrilegious as it may seem to interfere with the work of the original geniuses I felt a desire to enjoy the water at closer quarters.