The Old Rectory, Manston; a country garden for the 21st century
Deep in the Dorset countryside, Andrew and Judith Hussey have restored this five-acre Old Rectory garden to combine the tranquillity of an established country garden with the energising infusion of new design and planting.
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A few years ago in a three-part television series about the magazine Country Life, there was a segment about the National Garden Scheme with a clip of one garden. From many candidates submitted, the garden chosen was the Old Rectory, Manston and it is easy to see why. The rural setting and established features around the mellow house, in particular the walled garden, have had new life breathed into them by the garden’s recent restoration by Andrew and Judith Hussey to produce a country garden for the 21st century.
Crisp hedges of yew, beech and hornbeam have been used to create a series of three garden rooms. The planting tour-de-force is a luxuriant 120-ft herbaceous border in front of a warm south-facing wall and there is much else to discover including a wild-flower meadow, a young plantation of carefully chosen hardwood trees, a knot garden now taking shape and a rejuvenated kitchen garden within the old Victorian walls.
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