Greencombe Woodland Garden Porlock

Greencombe Gardens, overlooking the Bristol Channel was created in 1946 using only organic methods. A woodland garden has been developed which gives the impression that it has evolved naturally. In addition, it holds a surprise which can bring solace to the human spirit. Greencombe is privately owned and has many National Collections of named species.

Essentially the garden consists of a magnificent woodland with trees 90ft high, making it seem like a great cathedral within which azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias glow like jewels. Erythronium, trillium and myriads of ferns gow on moss covered slopes. There are glimpses of the sea to the north and of ancient forest to the south. In the Middle Ages this was part of one of the only two deer parks on Exmoor, and the ditch and wall, built to keep the deer in, are still here. The garden is brilliant in spring, rich with roses, clematis and lilies in summer and splendid in autumn colour. It has its own rare quality of peace and enchantment.

Greencombe Gardens

At Greencombe, in Porlock's 'verdant vale', plants grow with an amazing vigour. Shrubs normally seen at knee height here reach to the shoulder. Trees soar skywards and so luscious is the vegetation it makes a mockery of the efforts of many of us who live in less favoured districts. The visitor comes away with an over-riding impression of exuberant growth, of birdsong everywhere and of glorious views out over Porlock Bay. Greencombe is not large, only 57; acres, yet a clever layout makes it seem much larger, with paths leading off around corners, up steps, through walls, leading you on to explore. The house was built in the 1930s and the garden begun in 1946 with the level lawns and terraces around the house, which so admirably set it off, and the flight of stone steps leading up through the moongate to the vegetable garden. Joan Loraine came to Greencombe in 1968, and has devoted a great part of her life to her beloved garden. Her achievements are considerable, for everywhere the eye is drawn on to some new delight; from the earliest rhododendron and scented witch hazel until the dark days of winter curtail plant growth, there is never a lack of interest.

But the garden is not without its problems: the sun deserts this face of the hillside until late January, when Miss Loraine greets its welcome brief return with a celebratory glass of sherry. The ever-present deer make six-foot fences a necessity, and the dry slopes would grow very little without the continuous dressing of compost that is bestowed every year. One huge problem was the honey fungus affecting much of the garden, spreading from the birch logs used as edging, and the many old stumps left in the ground, all of which had to be laboriously removed — a cautionary tale indeed! The woodland garden to the west is in reality a long narrow strip, but the paths meander pleasantly beneath the tall, straight trunks of sweer chestnut and oak, underplanted with evergreen azaleas, rhododendrons and shade-loving planrs. Carefully placed logs and seats offer views over the meadows to the sea and rustlings among the deep layers of fallen leaves and birds singing overhead all add to the sylvan charm. The main area of the garden is contained within a high wall to one side, and a towering hedge of C Leylandii on the other, grown here as it should be. From ground level to its lofty summit at least twenty feet above, it presents a dense, well-clipped wall of greenery, providing both shelter and privacy — and a slight problem when ir is time for the annual shave. Many of the shrubs and evergreens are kept within bounds by a ruthless clipping programme, and whilst this may give an air of severity for a short time, it does ensure that each specimen retains its shape and keeps within bounds. In a garden where the photinias are well over six feet in height, this is important if the whole thing is not to become an overgrown jungle. Springtime is special, not least because it comes earlier to Greencombe than to the rest of Exmoor, whose harsh climate is another world. Daffodils line the drive, and the little anemone blanda provides carpets under the trees and bushes. Camellias are everywhere, some way above one's head, and the many small azaleas provide a rich carpet of colour from mid-April onwards, followed by the rhododendrons in their turn. Miss Loraine says, with some exasperation, that she wishes everyone didn't label Greencombe as a spring garden — but all of us welcome the first riches of the gardening year, here offered so abundantly. Later on, the terraces around the house are full of roses, some dating from the earliest plantings, some pegged down to make large arching mounds of bloom. Elsewhere they cover the house, garden sheds, trellises and old walls. Clematis, too, are planted, abundantly, and there is a good diversity of herbaceous planting. Phil-adelphus are a particular favourite of Miss Loraine and in summer the air is heady with their scent.

This kind of garden is only achieved where the same hand and eye have been in charge for a long time. Over the years Miss Loraine has developed a particular philosophy — she gardens vertically. This came about from her love of trees and her habit of always looking up at them.   As her garden is on a steep slope she works with this, and not against it. Some plants are meant to be looked down on: with others the eye is drawn up to see flowers and shrubs from a different angle. She has worked to achieve a feeling of areas flowing into each other, and has given special attention to the 'middle distance', which creates foreground and background, and gives depth.

The garden at Greencombe is completely organic and compost heaps are on view. Of special interest are national collections of Polystichum, (the 'thumbs-up' fern). Erythronium, (spring-time lilies), Vaccinium (blue berries) and Gaultheria. Plants are all carefully chosen and given individual treatment, and there are many rariries. Miss Loraine says that she knew little or nothing when she first came to Greencombe, but she must have learnt very quickly, and is now a formidable force who, with the help of her two part-time gardeners, maintains one of the West Country's horticultural gems. There is a good range of plants for sale.

Contributed by: Tom Swain