ArleyHall.qxd 04/10/2017 08:50 Page 1 - Speed Media One...landed the Arley Hall post nine years...

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Horticulturalexcellence

Arley Hall & Gardens

”The award-winninggardens exude anabundance of styleand design,developed over 250years by successivegenerations of thefamily, to now rankamongst the finestin the UK

Many have sung the praises of Britain’s most ancientherbaceous border. Greg Rhodes meets the team charged withkeeping it, and the surrounding lavish gardens, the envy ofgardeners and horticulturalists alike

ArleyHall.qxd 04/10/2017 08:50

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PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 I 91

It’s break time in the gardeners’ brick-built shed at Arley Hall & Gardens. Achunk of sumptuous chocolate cake sitsinvitingly on the centre table - the bulkof it having fallen prey already to raids

by the grounds team and volunteersclustered around contentedly.

After a warm welcome and an invitation totake tea and coffee, head gardener GordonBaillie unveils his role in tending one ofBritain’s most treasured horticulturaldestinations - a Cheshire country estatesteeped in heritage, boasting magnificentgreenery, borders and living architecture andwhat, for many visitors, offers a true havenof peace.

The estate is one of Britain’s jewels in thecrown that prove so appealing for the mediaand it has hosted many a television and filmcrew over the years - BBC production PeakyBlinders, Coronation Street (the Chapelfeatures in five weddings and at least fourfunerals) and Disney’s Evermoor Chroniclesfor example - not forgetting AntiquesRoadshow and The Real Housewives ofCheshire.

The ancestors of Viscount Ashbrook havelived at Arley Hall for over 500 years. Thepresent Grade II listed Victorian pile standson the site of the first house, built by thefamily in 1469, which nestles in the heart ofthe estate amid the stunning gardens andmemorably landscaped park.

The present incumbent is the great greatgrandson of Rowland Egerton-Warburton,who built the present hall between 1832 and1845, with its adjacent chapel on the site ofthe much earlier house, and lived therethroughout his childhood.

The award-winning gardens exude an

abundance of style and design, developedover 250 years by successive generations ofthe family, to now rank amongst the finest inthe UK.

Outstanding features include the doubleherbaceous border, established in 1846 andsaid to be the earliest in the UK.

As Gordon chats, a robin rushes in toscrabble for seed scattered on the shed floor,closely followed by an unusually tameblackbird, also here for his ‘elevenses’.“They’re becoming tamer too,” Gordonvoices.

No one bats an eyelid, revealing that thebirds are familiar visitors here, probablyseveral times daily, highlighting the easyenvironment we’ve entered today.

Arley Hall is a family venue to suit all ages.For garden lovers, the imposing avenue offourteen Holm Oaks and elaborate topiarypresent signature structures.

The informal Grove and Sculpture Trailcontain a riot of colour, whilst the two walledgardens, with deep borders, manicuredlawns and an extensive collection of shrubroses are also a delight in season.

Scattered amongst the greenery is ArleyHall’s eclectic collection of thirty sculptures,fashioned from wire, glass, wood, metal andstone.

The Gardener’s Kitchen opened last yearafter extensive refurbishment and theappointment of new caterers deliveringfresh, local and seasonal produce, wherepossible from the kitchen garden itself orlocal farmers, producers and suppliers.

Family fun in the Adventure Play Zone andGarden Trails, with zip wire, swings andslides, keep kids active and absorbed duringtheir visit here.


“Demonstrating seed-sowing and gettingthe kids involved isalways popular butextremely time-consuming, when wecan have up to1,000 visitors on theday

Gordon spends his working life in the garden; it is what he enjoys most

We move outside into the stillness asGordon tells us a little bit about himself.After graduating with honours in horticulturefrom the Scottish Agricultural College,Auchincruive, in 1987 (near Robbie Burns’house and famous for its ‘hanging gardens’over the river Ayr), his first “cottage withjob” followed after Lord Shawcross, leadBritish prosecutor at the Nurenberg WarCrimes tribunal and a member of ClementAtlee’s cabinet, gave him the head gardener’spost on his East Sussex estate. “I badgeredhim into giving me the job as he thought Iwas overqualified for it,” Gordon adds.

He moved on to work at specialist plantcentre Stone Cross Nurseries in Pevensey,before spending four years at Knole ParkNational Trust estate in Kent. “I lived in acottage in the middle of the nearby golfcourse,” he recalls.

After moving west to take up the headgardener position at the Grade II listed LakeHouse gardens near Amesbury, Wiltshire, helanded the Arley Hall post nine years later in2009.

His career path has taken him from asingle-handed gardener to head honcho withone full-timer and two trainers to four full-timers at Lake, as at Arley Hall.

“Spending my working time in a garden iswhat I most love. Earlier, I drew heavily onproducing plants commercially but, in agarden, I could witness the lifecycle ofannuals and perennials from start to finish.”

And he has plenty of those lifecycles to seeup close and personal as 40,000 to 45,000plants are growing during the season -mostly annuals and vegetables, the latter allfor “internal consumption” in the café,restaurant and elsewhere.

Feeding the public’s appetite forentertainment is always on his radar and wemet him shortly after Arley Hall had run oneof its family fun days. “These keep me busy,”he says. “Demonstrating seed-sowing andgetting the kids involved is always popularbut extremely time-consuming, when we canhave up to 1,000 visitors on the day.” He alsoleads three-hour tours on Tuesday

afternoons for up to fifty visitors - no meantask in itself.

Gordon is engagingly self-effacing with acharm that will inspire many an inquiringmind - young or older - but he confesses tostruggling with some of today’s newer toolsof the trade.

“I’m fighting a desperate rearguard actionagainst technology,” he notes. “I only havean iPad (my partner bought me it) and myphone. I’ve recently discovered Candy Crush,but for work I use Facebook, although I don’tknow half of what comes at me.”

How about a five-year plan? “I barely havea five-minute one,” he laughs. I suspect he’sfar more planned and organised than he letson.

Helping Gordon keep on top of the 24-acreplot in his care is a retinue of twentyvolunteers, and still growing. Bodies like theNational Trust rely increasingly on thepassion and energy of such helpers and, atArley Hall, some of them have takenownership of duties across the gardens. Theother 1,200 acres of this patch of country isleft in the hands of the Estate Manager.

“We are a diverse site here and there’slittle we don’t have, and I love the volunteersto learn and develop, even if they don’t wishto become a gardener. We’ve supported anautistic young lad from school. He comes inone day a wee- on his own now - and doesstuff like potting on, edging off and raking.”

The volunteers “rip through their variousduties like a mob-handed fire brigade”,Gordon adds.

“They want practical experience and wehave the acreage to ensure they always havesomething to crack on with.”

Before I have the chance to ask about thefull-time team, Gordon clarifies that all aremale. Why’s that? “Women seem morereluctant to come on board, I’m unsure why,”he says. “I’ve certainly tried and continue todo so.”

Estate duty gardener James Youdalternates with Gordon in locking the gatesafter a long day. His responsibilities includethe walled garden and the shrub rose

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”Women seem morereluctant to come onboard, I’m unsurewhy. I’ve certainlytried and continue todo so


garden, with a little hedge-cutting mixed in.“We have a fine collection of roses, thebrainchild of the late Viscountess Ashbrook,”Gordon explains, adding: “I’ve developed asystem of cross-training team members oneach other’s tasks so that, if someone is offsick or on holiday, one of the team candeputise to ensure the jobs are done. Itseems to work pretty well.” As does his styleof `soft touch management`. “I wouldn’t liketo be micro-managed myself, so tend not todo so with the team.”

Doug Rustadge, is tasked with most of thelawn mowing and there’s plenty of it. Whilstambling round, we pass into the imposingwalled garden with its expansive lawns.Gordon seems a little laissez faire aboutlawn quality and maintenance but, oninspection, the grass bears all the hallmarksof well-manicured sportsturf.

Fellow team-member Mark, is cross-trained on it and has attained his climbingcertificate, placing him in prime position fortree-pruning. Heavier weed control of

brambles and docs in the meadow areas alsocomes under his remit.

“Grass-cutting continues year-round now,”declares Gordon bemoaning climate change,“whilst weeds spring up earlier in the yearand stop growing later.”

Mark also trims the hedges - yews mainly -plus the distinctive pleached lime avenue atthe entrance, planted by ViscountAshbrook’s ancestor Rowland and his wifeMary, the topiary finials and arguably thearborial pride of Arley Hall - the Quercus ilex

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The lime avenue

”We are a diverse sitehere and there’slittle we don’t have,and I love thevolunteers to learnand develop, even ifthey don’t wish tobecome a gardener

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“We have records ofwhat goes whereand when, and that’simportant with morethan 230 varieties offlower clusteredeither side of thelush green-turfedcentral walk

“The big thugs willtake over if you letthem, so we mustkeep them undercontrol andmollycoddle theweaker varieties

Holm Oak evergreen avenue, planted in 1846and contoured in the shape of toweringcylinders - “the tin cans” as the team dubsthem affectionately. “It’s believed to be theonly avenue of its kind,” states Gordon.Another unique facet of this gorgeous ruralretreat. The army of fruit trees - apple, pear,damsons, gages and cherries - all needregularly attending too.

Gordon himself lives on site - “a cottagecomes with the job”, ‘for the betterperformance of your duties’,” he quotes. It’sabout 1,000 yards from the gardens, farenough to walk back to lock the gates, hesays, and I’m guessing, to give him sufficient‘commuting’ distance after the rigours of theday.

We walk through an ornamental archedgateway and there’s the glorious doubleherbaceous border I’ve heard so muchabout.

Under Arley Hall’s task-specific system, theborders are deputy head gardener DaveGroom’s key responsibility. “They are markedon a map of the estate dated 1846,”proclaims Gordon, “and are thought topredate Kew.”

The border understandably receives moreTLC than other corners of the garden. “We’reanxious to maintain everything to as high astandard as we can and want to avoid a seaof weeds invading this area.“

Originally continuous lines of flower beds,the borders were segmented by Rowland andMary into discrete sections, punctuatedevery so often with yew `buttresses` nowshaped to resemble fruit machines or thosemechanical cash registers that oncepopulated shop counters.

As a member of the 10,000-strong UKGardening Group, Arley Hall continues toinfluence planting and designs nationwide,and you can only guess how many admirershave walked the lawns in its ninety yearswithin the National Gardens Scheme.

Lifting, dividing and planting out are thethree elements of maintaining theherbaceous border. “We have records of

what goes where and when,” says Gordon,and that’s important with more than 230varieties of flower clustered either side ofthe lush green-turfed central walk. “That’srisen from 184 when I arrived,” he adds,including some that are extremely rare.“Tropical plants grow here, like the blueHimalayan poppy.”

Weeding, staking and dead-heading are allvital elements too of creating a crescendo ofvibrant, upstanding blooms to delight the eyeat every twist and turn.

“When the first frost bites we cut theentire border down. Dave works on theborders slowly and steadily, caring for thoseplants that stay out there. We need to keepup plants’ vigour - lifting the herbaceousplants every one to three years is our rule ofthumb.”

“There’s been no frost this winter, butplants can get caught with the last chill ofthe season sometimes if they are nottoughened up. About eight years ago, ithadn’t snowed at all by January, then wesuffered one of the hardest winters we’veever witnessed. The temperature hardly roseabove minus 10OC. I told everyone to stay athome.”

‘Doughnutting’ is undertaken extensivelyby stripping out the dead plant middle toencourage healthy growth. “The big thugswill take over if you let them, so we mustkeep them under control and mollycoddlethe weaker varieties,” Gordon explains.

“It’s all about getting to know yourindividual garden. There are so manymicroclimates, even within the borders. TheVictorian walled garden protects what’sgrowing from frost pockets, although theCheshire climate is characteristically mild,wet and damp.

Does he have a secret soil recipe forcultivating such magnificent borders? “Therearen’t the numbers to put in place a goodcomposting system,” says Gordon. “We buyin an artic load [40-45m3] of PAS 100 gradecompost, which we apply to herb bordersand the walled garden. Plants growing in the

Victorian tea cottage


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”That’s rare Diascia,native to SouthAfrica. Carol Klinementioned it whenshe presented fromChelsea a few yearsbefore. We had it abit before that

herbaceous borders are not that fussy whatwe put down there. Most of our owncompost we let rot down, then apply to thewoodland areas.”

Only when you stroll down the borderscan you grasp the scale and variety of theplanting and presentation.

Applying a neat trick to maximise borderblooming, Gordon avoids planting the samevarieties opposite each other. “Plants flowersooner on the south-facing side, whilst the

hedge shades north-facing ones, so gainmore from the same specimens.”

The borders demand a huge amount ofstaking to maintain their verticalprominence. Straight iron stakes are firstheated then bent before use. Wood, cane,string and plastic items are used as well,depending on the application.

“Staking pays for itself in labour-saving,”Gordon explains, “as we don’t have to keepmanually maintaining upright stems if bad

weather strikes, as rain and wind can swampthe borders.”

Further along the border, he points to acrop of rather underwhelming small pinkishblooms. “That’s rare Diascia, native to SouthAfrica. Carol Kline mentioned it when shepresented from Chelsea a few years before.”Then, with a wry smile, he adds; “we had it abit before that.”

Then there’s Salvia ‘Amistad’, floweringMay to November. TV gardener and

Plants flower sooner on the south-facing side

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presenter Sarah Raven says of it; “if I wasonly allowed to take one plant to a desertisland, this would be in the running.”

After our time marvelling at theherbaceous borders is done, we wander pastthe ornately carved stone alcove at theirhead, then happen on a tennis court, sand-filled synthetic surface and ready for playwith net in place. “The family plays regularly.The court needs a little upkeep, but notmuch.”

Then we move through to the shrub rosegarden, turn a corner and spot the dinkyVictorian Tea cottage, a charming location totake refreshments in days gone by.

Lined with viola occulta, this area featuresfoxgloves and hollyhocks. “We add mulcheson the surface and let Mother Nature do therest,” says Gordon a little distractedly as wepicture him backdropped by the yellow array.The largely clay-based soil suits roses nicely,although the ground can become a tad“claggy” in winter.

And so to the magnificent ilex avenue - the‘tin cans’ - planted in the 1840s and shapedas cones until WWI, when staff shortages asmen went to war forced a rethink andtopiary was the casualty.

“Afterwards, they couldn’t be pruned totheir original shapes and the cylinders yousee today were born,” Gordon explains. Theteam have all been trained to build the 8mhigh scaffold required to trim each of thefourteen living structures - usually at the endof June.

“Health and safety dictates that it’serected and dismantled every day becausewe are personally liable if someone climbsup it and falls off. This takes two of the teamtwo weeks and two days to complete usingthe hedgecutters - our battery-drivenhedgecutter avoided one of them from usingelectric cable.”

In the fish garden nearby - now free of fishbecause Gordon believes herons made offwith the stock - strikingly geometrical bedsare planted up.

Surrounding this is the alpine garden,

which Gordon mapped out seven years ago,then planted up over the next two or threeyears. “I stripped out old topsoil and addedeight tonnes more, with a tonne each ofsand and horti grit.”

Name-dropping comes easy in a gardenwith so high a pedigree as Arley Hall. “ChrisBeardshaw is a big fan,” reveals Gordon, “asis Roy Lancaster. Chris loves herbs, as I do.They filmed a clip for the Great BritishGarden Revival in the herbaceous border andTim Wonnacott of BBC TV’s Antiques RoadTrip has visited us.” How about his owngardening hero? “Geoffrey Smith,” is theresponse, without hint of hesitation.

Recent national surveys of birdpopulations have revealed mixed fortunes,but Gordon brings glad tidings. “The lastcouple of years has seen far more birds onthe estate. The dawn chorus can bedeafening, not only in the spring, but all yearround.”

“Rooks and carrion crows gather here, ofcourse, but ravens too.” Aren’t they confinedto the grounds of the Tower of London and

far-flung coastal reaches? Apparently not.“They are recent visitors - the red kite too,and we have plentiful buzzards shootingthrough the trees.” - one swooped across theaccess road as we left.

Swallows and House Martins swirl aroundthe ancient buildings - notably the woodenCruck Barn, built in 1470 and the recipient ofa heritage award. “They really enjoythemselves, ganging up together. Some havemade nests in seeding trays I placed on thewalls of the potting sheds.”

The great spotted woodpecker is inevidence at times too, as is its more common‘green’ cousin. “I once rescued one from theclutches of a sparrowhawk,” Gordon tells me.Is that interfering with the natural order ofthings I muse, then decide; “good man.”

At the other end of size scale, goldcrests,the UK’s smallest bird, are seen at Arley Hall.

The three large ponds on the site alsoattract their fair share of wildlife diversityand are kept pretty much full thanks to thesite’s high water table.

“We use mains water on site, but try not

“The team have allbeen trained tobuild the 8m highscaffold required totrim each of thefourteen livingstructures - usuallyat the end of June

The ‘tin cans’. The shape was born after WWI

The tennis court needs a little upkeep, but not much!



to irrigate unless absolutely necessary as it islabour intensive,” Gordon explains.

Rounding another centuries-old edifice -this one houses the visitor dining area - wenearly bump into a most distinctivecharacter - an Arley Hall permanent resident- one of three willow ladies made speciallyfor Disney’s Evermoor, filmed here recently.

One of the lawns near the entrance bearsthe tell-tale marks of early season blooming.

“Yes, that’s the daffodil lawn, Gordondiscloses. “We’ve recently cleared everythingthere following the Garden Festival at theend of June.”

The maintenance budget depends onvisitor numbers - and Gordon ensures hegets down and dirty to help swell them yearon year. “It’s comfortable for what we aredoing here. In every job I’ve held, you usuallysee last year’s budget rise by inflation.”

The modest machinery fleet includes aKubota tractor with trailers, a 12-year-oldIseki with bucket front and link box on theback and a new Iseki, which tackles thegrove and woodland areas. An Iseki ride-ontends the garden lawns.

The AS Mower Slasher for rough-cuttingmeadow areas is a great favourite ofGordon’s, as is the Billy Goat leaf vacuum, agodsend with so many deciduous trees, even

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”It’s comfortable forwhat we are doinghere. In every job I’veheld, you usually seelast year’s budgetrise by inflation

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considering just the immediate gardens.With so much foliage to keep trim,

hedgecutters wear out regularly. “I decidedto switch from electric to battery units,bought one and now everybody is fighting touse it,” says Gordon. “We need another onesoon. They are so much more convenientthan the electric versions, with all thecabling. The battery powering the plug-inoption lasts a day, the backpack versionthree days or more.”

Can noise prove intrusive for visitors? “Youreally can’t run machinery without somenoise, but we rarely, if ever, receivecomplaints about it. Although when filming’sunderway, the sound crew can be a littletroublesome but, if they cannot see us, theyare usually fine. The Who Let the Dogs Outgame show was filmed whilst we wereclipping the hedges and there was noproblem.”

Like his forebears, the present, 11th,Viscount Ashbrook and his wife take anactive interest in the upkeep and evolutionof the gardens. He created the grove andwoodland area, which opened in 1983 andhas a special interest and passion forrhododendrons, azaleas and hydrangeas,Gordon says, thanks in no small part to hishead gardener’s love of them.

Viscountess Ashbrook handles theherbaceous border. “The two of us develop aplan for summer and autumn, then springand winter, including bedding plants. Allthree of us introduce plants as and when, asthis is very much a large back garden -always growing and evolving, it’s a dynamicthing.”

Garden architecture and ornamentalfigures pepper the site, including four stoneheraldic beasts, originally on the roof of theHall, sited in the middle of the walled gardenaround the central pool with its dramaticallysculptured copper foliage fountain.

Underneath the original Victorian carvedstone bowl surround lies a commemorativeplaque inscribed ‘Elizabeth Ashbrook 1911 -2002’, marking her life.

Arley Hall’s celebrations for the Queen’sDiamond Jubilee included each of the figuresholding a flagpole flying a Union Jack. “Itcaused quite a stir at the time,” says Gordon,who then reveals an allegiance that I shouldhave suspected earlier. “I’m a Scottishnationalist,” he grins, “and up for electrifyingHadrian’s Wall.” Sentiments strictly in jest, hestresses.

Also within the walled garden are beechesbearing the signs of thinning back. “Reducingthe size of our beech trees to make themmore manageable is on my priority list.”Around them, the lawns stretch to thedistant borders proliferating in front of thehigh perimeter brick wall.

“Lawn sand and organic fertiliser areapplied to the grass, along with controlleddroplet application twice a year and two-inchhollow tining every two or three years. Webrought in a decompactor last winter and,this year, it was too cold to Verti-drain, somore weeds than usual have sprung up.”However, “despite the bad weather, we arecelebrating one of the best years we’ve everhad. The plants have done really well.”

Weather extremes aside, wind often can

be a major issue for the team. “Care isneeded as spray drifting across lawns can killoff the herbaceous borders.”

Gordon replaced the wooden lawn edgingalong the walks four years ago, fitting stoneramps at one end of the lawns to allowmowers ready access to the grass surface.

The scale of the gardens means someseemingly everyday jobs are, in fact, large-scale, lengthy projects; the edging - a taskcompleted over the winter closed-season -was far from an overnight one.

Last on our tour is the Vinery, a fineexample of solid Victorian glass constructionand cast iron engineering, with its clunkywinching systems to open the top windowsand huge pipes running along the glasshousefloor, once pulsing with hot water to createthe conditions that the exotic species housedhere thrive in.

The original heating is long deceased andGordon has introduced modernity byconverting the top window cranks tofunction automatically.

Erected in the 1800s, the building housesfig trees, currently replete with ripening fruitthat are just as old. “Charles loves them,”

“It caused quite a stir at the time. I’m aScottish nationalistand up forelectrifyingHadrian’s Wall!

The wooden Cruck Barn, built in 1470 and the recipient of a heritage award

A switch to battery power is on the cards


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comments Gordon. “You have to rise early toget ahead of him.” The three crops a yearshould prove enough to go round surely.

Within these walls, Gordon reveals one ofhis passionate pastimes – cultivating lilies.“I’m a horti nerd and wanted to introducesome interesting varieties when I startedworking here.”

Climate in the Vinery can encourageunwanted wildlife. “Red spider is our biggestissue. We cannot eradicate it, but soak the

wall with water as a deterrent. This year, thespider has proliferated due to the weatherturning really hot really quickly then goingcold then hot again.

“Thankfully, the whitefly is nothing like asbad as last year when we had clouds of themin the Vinery. Their excreta encourages sootymould, which falls on the fruit - not a majorproblem as it is not a commercial crop. Ihave introduced the predatory wasp EncarsiaFormosia [just 0.7mm long] as a well-tested

solution for prevention and for low-infestation management, including aphids.”

This garden of distinction has a timelessquality that imposes itself on you from themoment you enter the estate.

Amongst so many signature varieties, doesGordon have a favourite? “Plants are likechildren,” he states coyly. “You are notsupposed to have favourites.”

All images: Jo Gornall/speed media one

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