From bare bones, this garden has been transformed through a labour of love
Tucked into a fold of the South Downs, in the medieval hamlet of Westdean, the Long House is the kind of place where time seems to stand still. On awarm summer’s day, the only sounds that can be heard are a chorus of birdsong and the buzz of bees flitting across the abundantly planted borders.
Owners Rosie and Robin Lloyd have made a quintessentially English cottage garden, which perfectly matches the unspoilt setting of their home. There’s a wildflower meadow with gently winding paths mown through and a series of distinct named areas, including the elegant Greenhouse Garden shaded by gnarled old apple trees and the Family Garden, a favourite sitting spot where lavender, hollyhocks, a variety of salvias, pinks and scabious mingle and billow in a riot of colour, shape and textures.
“It is bliss here, atmospheric and romantic,” says Rosie. “The South Downs Way runs through the hamlet and there’s a pretty little Saxon church next door but one to us.”
When the Lloyds moved in the garden had been well planned, but Rosie and Robin had lots of new ideas they were keen to try. “The bones of it didn’t need changing, but the planting is now very different,” explains Rosie. “We removed a white garden where the plants were struggling, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what I’d like to grow and what would thrive, which isn’t always the same thing!”
The paddock at the back of the house was one of their first projects. “In the past it had been mown like a lawn, so there was nothing of interest. Shortly after moving we added an extension and the builders parked their vehicles on the field. When they left they’d scraped everything off the surface, so it was a good time to sow some perennial wildflowers. Two years later,
