Shalford House

It was just before the great heat of this summer and this wonderfully floriferous garden was an absolute joy.  Paul Morrow, with his partner Robert Beard our very kind host, had trained at Wisley and designed gardens from London to Athens.  Here his love of this most life-enhancing of art forms has come to fruition and we were delighted!

The house sits on a gentle hill within a 40-acre estate, of which ten form the garden and Paul’s plantsman’s eye has brilliantly combined the unusual with the more recognisable flowering plants.  His heart is in his garden and as he showed us round, he pointed out, amongst much else, a loved Clematis viticella climbing up the supporting pillar of a covered sitting area at the far end of the terrace as he led us, past the incomparable Rosa mutabilis, to a walled kitchen garden.

Here, stepover apple trees form the edges of four beds in front of a well-used greenhouse – and let us not forget the row of great flowerpots, guardians of the greenhouse, with Agapanthus africanus flowering as if it were South Africa!

Steps from the terrace had taken us down to a perfect rectangular lawn, and onto the miraculous slope of the greater garden.  A rill, bound by hostas and other “watery” plants, meandered its way from a water lily pond down the long sweep of the lawn to a lake where fish swam and a duck house awaited its owners!

And the zingy blue of the hydrangeas in this sun-dappled spot, very close to the surrounding woodland, was enough to take our breath away!

And then there were the other gardens, running one below the other on the far side of the sloping lawn. All filled with flowers (another bounteous Clematis viticella, ‘Polish Spirit’) and all with particular personal memories.

This garden, its many magical parts held together with love, artistry, and many, many flowering plants, held us in its thrall. And every morning, Paul walks round deciding on which plant to remove, which to add.  Shalford is a living, and very beautiful, experience.

The tea, with no less than three different cakes, was no less superb!

Report by Sue Marsh