Alison Green’s experimental approach has resulted in a perfectly proportioned series of garden rooms at Theobalds Farmhouse in Middlesex, where balance is both a driving force and a central motif
WORDS ZIA ALLAWAY PHOTOGRAPHS ANNA OMIOTEK-TOTT
Enfield in North London seems an unlikely location for one of the most celebrated private gardens in the UK, but as soon as the gates to Theobalds Farmhouse open, revealing an intricately woven knot garden welcoming guests to the elegant 17th-century Grade II listed property, you know you’re in the right place.
This is the home of garden designer Alison Green, who, over the past 24 years, has developed the two-acre site that surrounds her home. A smorgasbord of horticultural delights, the garden is divided into rooms, each with its own character but all testament to Alison’s passion for plants and her painterly eye for colour and form. “When we arrived in 1999, it was essentially a field, with grass growing up to the house. The only other features were scrubby woodland along the southern boundary and a drainage pond at the bottom of the slope. But to my eyes this was the perfect canvas where I could let my imagination fly and introduce organic principles to attract wildlife,” she explains. “Over the years it’s become my laboratory, giving me freedom to play with ideas and experiment with plants and colours.”
Alison started work on the west side of the house where she initially created a parterre, since replaced with a gravel garden, following problems with box blight and caterpillars. She then designed the Knot Garden to reflect the period of the house. Based on two Celtic knots, the interwoven box has escaped the ravages of pests and diseases and creates a stunning frontispiece. “I use a biological control to keep box caterpillars at bay and leave clear spaces between the plants in summer to allow good air flow, which helps to prevent blight,” she explains.
To the north of the house, a Courtyard Garden is adorned with bright blue pots that add colour to this shady spot, while the Ornamental Garden to the east enjoys the morning sun. This area is one of the most used spaces, where family and friends congregate to relax by the circular lawn and surrounding borders filled with topiary, a bright yellow Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ and some of Alison’s favourite roses and perennials. “The evergreen structure, trees, shrubs, bulbs and perennials offer year-round interest, making it a lovely spot for morning coffee, whatever the season,” she says.
A pergola wrapped with climbing roses, including ‘Blush Noisette’, ‘Ma
