Climbing the walls
If you believe the adage that “a beautiful walled garden is a work of heart”, then you’ll be won over by these endearing enclosed spaces.
Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden and Peter Rabbit certainly enjoyed their walled gardens, which traditionally were built to keep animals in, and unwanted vermin and intruders out.
These days, walled gardens are adored by the dedicated green-fingered, as they are known to retain warmth in a private microclimate, and protect plants from gusts of wind and sharp frosts.
Some have even retained their ‘hot walls’ – walls fuelled by little furnaces and with small chimneys to release the smoke – to save espaliers of peaches, apples, plums and cherries from hoarfrost.
And, of course, the worn and ancient stone or brick of walled gardens looks solid and decoratively pleasing to the eye.
After declining during the world wars due to lack of labour to maintain such grand spaces, the walled garden’s having a comeback.
Modern versions house swimming pools, tennis courts and vineyards, as well as produce bountiful trugs of flowers, fruit and veg for foodies – but they’re all timeless and tantalising in equal measure.
