Barton St Mary

Lutyens marked the property's entrance drive with a pair of imposing two-storey gatehouses. Jekyll then lined the drive to the house with successive bold plantings of shrubs - laurel, broom, forsythia and weigela, followed by groups of evergreen oaks. Unfortunately, some of these trees were blown down in the great storm of 1987.

The drive culminated in a gravelled forecourt bounded by dry retaining walls of local stone planted with outcrops of ferns, pinks and aubrieta before leading on to a sunken courtyard situated at the front of the house. On the northern axis from this point Jekyll planted an avenue of triple rows of fruit trees - apples, pears, medlars, quinces and crabs. These, too, suffered in the storm of 1987 but since have been replanted. Adjacent to the avenue she created a pair of long, herbaceous borders. Regretfully, planting plans for these do not appear to have survived.

Next to the borders came a formal kitchen garden enclosed by yew hedges and containing symmetrical vegetable plots edged with deep flower beds and espaliers. Gravel paths led to its central focal point: an arbour with stone columns linked by iron hoops and clad with roses. It has been suggested that there was an existing walled kitchen garden here, pre-dating Barton St. Mary, which Gertrude Jekyll incorporated into her plans. However, researchers and previous owners of the house could find no evidence for this supposition. Greenhouses, a utility area and a cutting area occupied the remaining ground towards the northern boundary.

To the west of the house a broad level lawn fringed by trees was laid while southwards Jekyll created a raised terrace garden with two levels of flower beds all bordered with Stachys lanata. The terraces have dry stone retaining walls clad with roses. At some time, central steps have been added to these terraces while the borders have been made narrower by extensions to the grass areas. To complete her plan, Jekyll designed informally planted lawns which progressed from the terraces to a swathe of mixed planting of trees and shrubs - holly, amelanchier, azalea, roses and spruce. These were intervened with mown paths and named the ‘Wilderness'.

Despite different ownerships, Barton St. Mary's hard landscaping appears to have remained relatively unchanged but the herbaceous planting has disappeared completely. At different times flower beds have been reshaped and replanted as well as new features introduced. For example, an ornamental pool has been added to the forecourt and yew tree topiary introduced across the lawns. A geometrical pattern of gravel paths has been laid on the level lawn together with a central fish pond. On the southern terraces central steps have been built, possibly to give easier access to the lawns below.