A magnificent cedar of Lebanon takes centre stage in front of the house, whose commanding position overlooks the estuary of the The show must go on Tapeley Park and Gardens, , north Non Morris discovers that experimentation, environmentalism and numerous dramatic flourishes invigorate this unusual Devonshire garden at every turn Photographs by Val Corbett

EW houses can have been built a clever, simple planting of a Magnolia with such tantalising views. Grade grandiflora and an Acacia dealbata (mimosa) F II*-listed Tapeley Park, built in on each side of the main entrance, the trees 1702 and remodelled in the 19th growing lushly in their suntrap of a home. and early 20th centuries, sits in a command- We head up and westwards to the walled ing position looking down onto Devon’s kitchen garden, a traditional productive Torridge Estuary, the pretty town of Bide- plot on a perfect, south-facing slope with ford and out to Lundy Island in the distance. wonderful views over the rolling estate. ‘I thought you were coming tomorrow,’ says There are long-established espaliered apple We meet head gardener Chris Barham, who Hector Christie with a schoolboy grin as and pear trees, a storybook thatched pot- matches Hector in his enthusiasm for the I track him down, guided by the cheery sign: ting shed and a 1930s greenhouse, with way the system supplies water for the kitchen ‘Hippies use back door. No exceptions.’ He a curved roof, running the length of the garden, new polytunnels, permaculture garden glances seawards for just a fraction too long wall. Hector is thrilled with the ingenious and the Italian terraces. ‘There’s a borehole as he describes how the estuary’s perfect surf- way the greenhouse has been restored with if we need it—we’re self-sufficient.’ ing conditions are the result of the River Taw plastic guttering. ‘It’s a brilliant solution— Experimenting with ways to be self-suf- merging with the Torridge at just this point. it’s flexible, will last for ages and it cost ficient and sustainable is fundamental to I have time to admire his green woollen about £300 instead of thousands.’ the 21st-century Tapeley Park: ‘It’s about jumper, which has flared sleeves and holes sharing this house and the buildings around so big it looks as if it’s made of cartoon cheese, it, developing and practising ideas of sus- and his bucket hat bound with yellow-and- It’s about looking tainability and looking after the place so black plastic barricade tape. However, the that as many people as possible can enjoy moment of agony has clearly passed: ‘Don’t after the place so that it.’ The energy and unstuffiness of the worry, the surf’s still going to be there tonight.’ approach simply can’t fail to win you round. And so, together with his English bull terrier ‘as many people as ‘Look—there’s wild garlic here for four months Wayne, Hector graciously invites me on what possible can enjoy it of the year. I honk like a pig, but it’s free will turn out to be one of my most uplifting and it’s so good for you,’ advises Hector. garden visits of the year. He inherited the house in 1988 from his We walk past the south-facing façade of the We hurtle through the potting shed to pay aunt Rosamund, who famously gardened, house, imposing with its repeated columns homage to the impressive water-storage chased after visitors for their entrance fee of stone, but there is a softness and warmth system, a series of huge grey waterbutts,’ roof- and did the teas single-handed—all while to the wind-beaten red of the brick. There’s high in neat rows against the barn beyond. carrying a parrot on her head. When Hector

76 Country Life, August 9, 2017 www.countrylife.co.uk Steps lushly margined with Chusan palms Trachycarpus fortunei, cabbage palms Cordyline australis, Echium pininana, blue-flowered agapanthus and pink wands of Dierama pulcherrimum lead from the Shepherd’s Shed on the Top Terrace to the Shell House

was 19, it became clear to their father that into a sheltered spot lower in the grounds. When you want to harvest the currants, younger brother Gus would be the man for Permaculture is a thoughtful, creative you simply cut the nettles down first.’ the other family estate, in East approach to the way plants work together. I’m smitten by the way my gardening , and Hector for the farm in Devon. It uses layers of permanently productive knowledge is turned on its head. I knew that Although the latter’s journey has been more plants: fruit trees growing above fruit bushes, dahlia tubers were edible, but had never fiery, he’s managed ‘by the hair on my chinny which, in turn, grow above perennials— considered steamed shoots of solomon’s chin chin’ to turn Tapeley around to its current, perhaps globe artichokes and fennel—which seal as an alternative to asparagus or using refreshing and inspiring form. grow above ground-cover plants such as the leaves of pollarded lime as a salad. A large proportion of the stories you may wild strawberry or ‘the X-factor plant’ The Tea Rooms—based in the restored have heard about Hector are true. A pas- comfrey. It cleverly exploits the vertical Queen Anne dairy, with food also served sionate protester against genetically modified dimension, so that a vine will be trained up outside on the Dairy Lawn, with its border (GM) crops, he dressed up as a GM potato a mulberry tree, offering edible mulberry designed by Carol Klein—offers ‘chemical- in Germany and infiltrated the G8 summit leaves in spring, followed by mulberries, free food fresh from the kitchen and perma- in Genoa disguised as a priest (‘the Glynde- followed by the grapes. culture gardens and even from the forest bourne costume department has been a great As ever, the storytelling approach at floor’. Beef and lamb will be sourced from help’), but, at Tapeley, he was also busy Tapeley is infectious. ‘Take blackcurrants the estate’s own ‘solely grass fed’ Highland establishing one of the earliest and biggest —a blackbird’s favourite aperitif. In the cattle and sheep. ‘We advocate excellent permaculture gardens in the UK. Kitchen Garden, the birds just gobble them food at a very reasonable cost,’ adds Hector, I meet Jenny Hayns, who choreographs up, but, here, we let the stinging nettles with his trademark no-nonsense passion. this fascinating acre of garden that’s tucked grow through them to keep the birds off. ‘You’ll be able to have your fill for a fiver.’ ➢

www.countrylife.co.uk Country Life, August 9, 2017 77 The mostly blue-and-yellow Middle Terrace Border was originally planned by Mary Keen and features Dahlia Gloria van Heemstede and Cephalaria gigantea

Over fuchsia and lavender hedges to the Toot, a 20th-century summer house at one end of the Bottom Terrace, flanked by unclipped Irish yew

Buzzing with the unstoppable enthusiasm erent palette at each level. The Middle Terrace that pervades the whole estate, I head at last is home to the Blue-and-Yellow Border, to the Italian terraces, the tiered gardens cheerful with the long-lasting, lemon-yellow that fall elegantly away to the south of the dahlia Gloria van Heemstede and the paler house, created in the early 20th century by yellow Cephalaria gigantea. The Bottom John Belcher under the watchful eye of Border is unashamedly pink and the stars Hector’s great-grandmother, Lady Rosamond of the show are the voluptuous pink dahlias There is an inbuilt stage set, giving Christie. I squeeze through a pair of mature ‘that were here long before I arrived’. a party-ready quality to the terrace layer- Irish yews to find the crisp, angular form The Bottom Border opens onto a spac- ing, and the steps leading up from the Top of a Quercus ilex tunnel to my right and, ious lawn that’s animated by the exotic Terrace to the 18th-century Ice House and in front of me, a rich-red fuchsia hedge and stilt-walking drama of a series of Chusan Shell Grotto (the next renovation project) dancing white festoons of solanum against palms. At one end is the D-shaped Lily Pond take you away to the Mediterranean with lichen-covered, pale-grey stone. (Hector has a clearly delicious memory of their lush planting of echiums and Cordy- Much of the latest planting on the ter- pushing an important visitor into the pond line australis. Towering yews and enorm- races was the work of Hector’s wonderful when he was very young), which becomes ous bat-winged cedar trees anchor and pro- ex-wife, Kirsty Macdonald (mother to their suddenly electric when the late-afternoon tect the house and sketchy, windblown two children Bess and Archibald). Kirsty sun floats onto the water. Monterey cypress frame every view. employed the services of Carol Klein and At the other end is the Toot, a stone summer At the end of the Tapeley Park guidebook Mary Keen to do a complete overhaul of the house that offers a particularly uplifting Hector writes: ‘I hope you enjoy your visit, three main Italian terraces, which offer a diff- view up through the garden to the house. and if, when you leave you feel better than

78 Country Life, August 9, 2017 www.countrylife.co.uk View down to the Top Terrace from the Shell House, with its tunnel of tightly Need to know clipped holm oaks (Quercus ilex) l Size The overall size of the garden is ‘impossible to quantify’ (the estate itself is about 6,000 acres). ‘The Italian Gardens are perhaps three acres, the Permaculture Garden and when you arrived, then Tapeley has done the Kitchen Garden just under and just over an acre respectively, and then there’s a mile its job.’ I get into the car smiling from ear of woodland walk leading to the Lake,’ advises Hector to ear—job done. l Soil Slightly acidic Tapeley Park and Gardens, Instow, north l Altitude 300ft above sea level Devon (www.christieestates.co.uk; 01271 l Position Set on an elevated plateau overlooking Bay and the estuary of the 860897). Garden open until October 31, River Torridge where it meets the River Taw Sunday to Friday, 10am–5pm. Bookings l Others involved Kirsty Macdonald. In the 1990s, Mary Keen—who had worked on the welcome for group tours (20 or more) of gardens at Glyndebourne—advised on the restoration of the Italian Terraces. Devon-based the house (which is otherwise not open) Carol Klein has also offered advice on the garden and designed the Dairy Lawn Border and/or for the garden www.countrylife.co.uk Country Life, August 9, 2017 79