A raised pool forms the centre of the courtyard to the rear of the house.
To one side is a short avenue of Malus ‘Red Sentinel’ growing in wooden planters and leading up to a gazebo. Pots of tender perennials are put out in the summer.
The Terrace and Orangery surrounds are decorated with pots of clipped Box, Bay, Holly and Photinia, trained as half standards, cones, spirals or trios. The Terrace with balustrade looks down onto the fountain lawn below and provides a wonderful view of the classical pavilion in the parkland beyond.
Two large Phormium tenax ‘Variegata’ flank either side of the curving steps. The beds at the base of the wall are planted with Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’, creating a haze of blue, humming to the sound of bees in the summer. Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ and Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’ flower with the second flush of Nepeta.
Set below the main terrace, the previously undulating lawn was leveled and the fountain pool installed in 2003.
After the drought of 2018, the lawn was reseeded and is now managed in a less intensive, more ecologically friendly way. The cylinder mower has been replaced and the grass is now cut using a Husqvarna 403x robotic mower, affectionately known as ‘Hildegard’. The frequency of cutting and recycling of clippings results in less feeding, better drought tolerance and reduces the spread of lawn weeds.
Lines of clipped fastigiate Yew form columns either side of the central pool.
Tightly clipped Yew hedges enclose the lawn, restricting views of the parkland below.
A large old Walnut and three substantial Irish Yews are to the left with a bed of Stipa gigantea shimmering in the late evening sun.