It’s taken time for Lucy Bartlett to shape the 11-acre blank canvas at Suffolk’s Polstead Mill to her personal tastes, but she’s been motivated by her goal of creating a special space for enjoyment and relaxation
WORDS WIDGET FINN PHOTOGRAPHS ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT
Lucy and Richard Bartlett moved to Polstead Mill in the heart of Suffolk in 2002. Their previous gardening experience, during careers spent travelling the world, had been confined to containers on the balcony of their flat in central London. “We planted seriously and in profusion, but space was always limited,” Lucy recalls.
At Polstead they acquired a garden and 11 acres of land, with a swimming pool and hard landscaping put in by the previous owners, along with a few shrubs – and shoulder-high nettles. “The grand plan was to get rid of the nettles then wait for a year to see what was there,” Lucy explains. In the meantime they cut down the line of outsized leylandii along the river, which was encroaching onto the lawn. Lucy recycled them, using their trunks to make a bridge over the River Box, which flows through the garden.
The Bartletts’ priority while absorbing the character of their new garden was to plant a variety of interesting trees and shrubs including holm oak, amelanchier, Parrotia persica and silver birch.
“We took time to acclimatise ourselves to the different opportunities,” says Lucy. “I had been brought up in South Wales, but I discovered that Suffolk was much drier and hotter – I soon learned how to use a watering can! My parents’ garden was very formal, but here I had a blank canvas with a golden opportunity to shape it to my own tastes. I earmarked early on which bits of garden were going to work in a certain way and gradually shaped what we had to make it how I wanted it to be.”
Early in the planning stage Lucy attended classes taught by Frances Mount, a local gardener who had trained and worked with Cedric Morris the distinguished artist and plantsman. Frances provided the perfect introduction to gardening in East Anglia, and through her Lucy absorbed Cedric’s thoughts on form and shape in planting.
“I planned to give the garden a backbone of structural plants and hard landscaping, as well as a variety of foliage and texture because I love greenery. It’s easy to have a showcase display, but I avoid the wow factor and aim for the softness of a cottage garden,” says Lucy. She championed old-fashioned favourites like lupins, delphiniums and hollyhocks long
