Great Dixter

With all the wedding things being done, R&D came to stay the end of this week, arriving on Wednesday evening in time to share a delicious lamb tajine with couscous from Cook. Although they were at the wedding we hadn't had chance to do much catching up on their life in New England, so there was none stop chattering over dinner. Neither of us has been to visit Christopher Lloyd's Garden and house at Great Dixter, so the plan was to make a vaguely early start and spend the day in East Sussex.
We set off soon after 9.30 when. hopefully the traffic on M25 had subsided a little. The satnav did a good job and we got within a mile or so before finding the road closed. A was map reading and found an alternative route, but once again the road was closed and we needed to go even further off piste before eventually turning into the driveway and parking. There were several cars already parked, so plenty of people undeterred by the closure.
Great Dixter is the family home of the Lloyd family with its fifteenth century Great Hall, the largest surviving timber-framed hall in Great Britain. Christopher Lloyd's father, Nathaniel commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to restore the hall to its former medieval splendour in 1910; and to add necessary living quarters for the Edwardian household. He did this by adding a hall house from around 1500, which was about to be demolished in nearby Benenden. This hall house was taken apart and painstakingly reconstructed at Great Dixter, adjoining the Great Hall. It is magnificent and we all wished we could have seen more of the house - only getting to see the Great Hall, Christopher Lloyd's study and the Solar on the first floor. In a feature in The World of Interiors, March 2011, there are several photographs of other parts of the house, which look very interesting.

But before we visited the house we spent a long time walking through the several garden rooms that were created by Lutyens and Nathaniel Lloyd. Mr Lloyd sr was particularly responsible for the topiary, which is clipped as soon as possible during and after August, but can take until November to be completed, so that it maintains its shape through until the following late spring. We saw them trimming some of the bird topiary on our visit. The gardens encircle the house, giving lovely views of the house from every angle through the colourful planting. Lutyens designed the garden so you can make a natural progression through the various areas, completing a full circle. Whether you are in the Sunk Garden, the High Garden, the Long Border or the Exotic Garden and all places between, there is plenty to look at and admire with vibrant colours vying for attention. None of your white or pink borders here, orange and purple flowers, for example, grow side by side in profusion. We were bowled over by the bold tones. This is all coming from Christopher Lloyd, who returned to Great Dixter in 1954. He has written several books about his gardening philosophy, and also wrote a column in Country Life for 42 years, as well as contributing to the Guardian newspaper. This is definitely a labour intensive garden and several gardeners are employed here as well as some students who work alongside them. The students get to stay in the house, which is why much of it is off limits to the public.
 
It was a wonderful day out, and before leaving we sampled tea from the gift shop and refreshment area at the back of the nursery. The nursery sells some of its plants, though quite a few are only for use in the garden and not for sale.


Christopher Lloyd
Obituary 1
Obituary 2
Great Dixter