Highwood Ash

About Highwood Ash

The 3¼ acre garden, on a sloping site at the highest point in Middlesex, has been created by us over the last 60 years. We decided to rescue what had become a neglected and overgrown site.

The lower area was bulldozed, a stagnant pond filled in and a woodland garden started amongst existing elms. A lorry-load of unnamed hybrid rhododendrons and azaleas were imported from Exbury at a cost of ‘half-a-crown’ each! As a result, the garden now looks magnificent in May.

The upper part was designed by the late Percy Cane who was then in his 90’s. He laid out the Rose Garden in 1967 and designed shrub and herbaceous borders which have been further developed over the years.

There was a major setback when Dutch elm disease killed all the elms, leaving the lower garden denuded, so in 1987 we asked John Brookes to design a water feature. We now have a two-tier lake with a few resident fish (sadly a cormorant visited during the summer) and lakeside planting giving wonderful reflections and a sense of peace.

The middle garden consists of a long lawn with a summerhouse at one end, an arbour in the middle and a magnificent cedar tree at the other end. Formal ‘ball’ trees in pots add structure.

In the 1970’s we altered the front garden to give a courtyard feel and this welcomes visitors to our part-sixteenth century house (not open) which was originally two farm cottages. A Georgian frontage was added to make it a ‘gentleman’s residence’.

As with all gardens, there are continual changes but our layout has been achieved in principal and no further structural changes are envisaged! However… in 2013 we started to change the rose garden into a gravel garden and the sixteen beds were completed in 2014. This has now matured and there are many South African and Mediterranean bulbs and plants thriving in the sheltered position. This year we plan to open in May.