'Cotswold Farm' Gardens - visited 5th February 2018

Common Snowdrop Galanthus Nivalis
As Mother Nature lifts her winter veil those much loved harbingers of Spring, the snowdrops, are once again nodding their heads in greeting. In February many gardens open their gates to the public giving anyone who is interested a chance to catch these first signs of spring. 
In this area of the Cotswolds there are five particularly renowned snowdrop gardens. Having shown two of them - Newark Park in 2013 and the Rococo Gardens in 2016 this third one has a completely different ambience. The house and the garden were both designed in the local vernacular 'Cotswold Arts and Crafts' style overlooking a quiet valley. In the 1930s, Norman Jewson, the Arts and Crafts architect/designer used local stone for the garden terraces which gradually descend down the side of the valley.

The house was originally a small Cotswold stone farmhouse with a stone barn and cow byre forming a small farmyard. The original farmhouse dates back over 300 years but the stone barns were added 100 years later. In 1900 the house was doubled in size, and then in 1926 Sydney Barnsley, the eminent Cotswold architect/designer was employed to add two new wings in the 'Arts and Crafts' style. Norman Jewson at that time was his assistant, but eventually became responsible for completing the work following Barnsley's death. 

 Chimonanthus praecox - wintersweet - Japanese allspice - native to China 

The garden holds  62 different varieties of snowdrop - these are Galanthus Hill Poe

It is extremely difficult to photograph the underside of a snowdrop without lying on the cold ground so this snowdrop was brought indoors. 

Galanthus Natalie Garton

The terracing gently leads you down to the foot of the valley and the Bog garden.

I do hope that the blight on this Box topiary has the same strain of disease that my plants suffered from. To my delight, and most curiously, my box balls have now completely recovered and regrown.

dwarf Iris alida

Helleborus argutifolius 

 Leucojum vernum - spring snowflake 

Although this pretty little flower is a member of the same family as a snowdrop and is a similar size it has 6 corolla (petals) all of the same length, whereas the common snowdrop Galanthus nivalis has three main petals and three more tiny inner ones. 

The entrance driveway lined with staddle stones.

Durslade Farm

High flying Swiss couple Iwan Wirth, Manuela Hauser, and their four children have recently setup home in Somerset; a landscape steeped in Arthurian myths and site of the legendary 'Avalon'.

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Dealers in cutting edge art and design, they own contemporary art galleries in London, New York City, Zurich and Los Angeles. 

In 2012 they received planning permission to renovate a mid C18 century Somerset farmhouse and its outbuildings; the whole complex is now open to the public

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A version of the celebrated giant spider, Maman by the French-American Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) can be found lurking in one of the courtyards 

A giant stainless steel milk pail sculptured by Subodh Gupta is placed near the original 
 Granary which sits on staddle stones - is this Conceptual Art? 

Admission is free, but donations to their chosen charity the 'Somerset Wildlife Trust', are welcome. There is an ambitious arts centre with a gallery, bookshop, learning room, restaurant, farm shop and a 1.5 acre perennial meadow designed by the Dutch master landscape designer, Piet Oudolf.

Winter

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Summer

They have an artist in residence programme which encourages integration within the local community and the benefits accrued to them by living in idyllic surroundings. 

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The restaurant is in a former cowshed - in the dining area there is a vibrant neon central light by the late American Jason Rhoades (1965-2006) 

The 18th century farmhouse itself is used for visiting guests and artists, but can be rented for family holidays, wedding parties, etc.
White undergarments attached to cables light up the evening sky!!! 

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There is a great buzz and a lively party atmosphere down on the farm

English Thatched Country Cottages and Staddle Stones

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, rushes or even heather. It is an ecologically friendly roof, and these days is not the fire hazard it was hundreds of years ago. Gradually, thatch became a mark of poverty and the number of thatched properties gradually declined, as did the number of professional thatchers. It has become much more popular in the UK over the past 30 years, and is now a symbol of wealth rather than poverty.

These village fire hooks, which I saw in the little village of West Lavington, Wiltshire are from the 17th C. They were used to tear burning straw from the thatched roofs of houses and haystacks in order to prevent the fire from spreading. They were last used in 1932 when a burning haystack became a fire hazard to nearby cottages.

The mushroom shaped stone at the entrance to the driveway is called a Staddle Stone. A Granary building would have stood on the top of several of this type of stone. The mushroom shape is to prevent the rats getting into the building.

This is an example of a Granary dated from 1800. I took this photo in Devon. The corn was stored in wooden bins ranged round the walls. 

The farm that H's family owned in Surrey had a large wooden shingle tiled barn cum granary standing on this type of stone, and it is still intact to this day.

This is a pen and ink drawing we have of their Surrey Farmhouse, which was drawn by H's cousin. I have just taken a section of the drawing so that you can see the Granary/Barn.