Natural affinity

Corsley House, a handsome ashlar stone building set in wooded land below Cley Hill in rural Wiltshire, had its origins as a Jacobean farmhouse. Just as its Georgian and Victorian additions lend the house character and individuality, so the recent development of its garden, under the ownership of American anglophiles Keith Johnson and Glen Senk, has created an exciting series of spaces that connect to the landscape and celebrate the joy of gardening with nature.

When the couple bought the property in 2018, they found a garden that had been loved in earlier times, with elements they definitely wanted to keep: majestic trees (including copper beech, cedars and an Indian bean tree), yew hedging, topiary, a huge walled garden and several historic structures and outbuildings including a grain store, threshing barn, potting shed, apple store and greenhouse overrun with vines. With the arrival of head gardener Jo Downes, an experienced horticulturist and committed environmental scientist, their English gardening journey began – their previous garden in Palm Springs, California, had a very limited palette of plants due to summertime heat. Keith, former buyer-at-large for the retail store Anthropologie, took the reins in the garden and was quickly converted to Jo’s no-chemicals/no-dig, biodiverse-rich approach.

The process of bringing the garden back to life has been a combination of uncovering (paths, plants, gates), reclaiming (timber and found objects on the land) and taming. One of the couple’s first interventions was to regain the view to Cley Hill, which was hidden by towering yew hedges and a backdrop of shrubs. “When we first saw the property,” explains Glen, “we fell in love with Cley Hill, and the fact that it was obscured was unbelievable to us.” The shrub bed was duly removed, the yew hedge lowered and the gap in the centre widened so that the gently rounded profile of the landmark hill can now be seen from the kit