The warm embrace of the immersive multi-layer gravel garden at Elmbridge Lodge in Surrey is irresistible to Julia Hickman, being filled with plants collected over the decades, gifts from friends and gardening memories of her late husband, Peter
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS NICOLA STOCKEN
Each day, it is from indoors that Julia Hickman catches the first glimpse of her garden at Elmbridge Lodge: a delightful picture that never fails to halt her in her tracks, no matter what the season. In the foreground a rose pergola frames a tiered view of flowers and foliage filling terraces that tame a gentle slope. “Looking out, I don’t see any sky, just the planting as it rises in layers, and it feels as if there are no other houses nearby,” says Julia.
It takes considerable imagination to envisage the outlook as it was just eight years ago, when Julia and her late husband, Peter, bought the Surrey townhouse off-plan with only boundary walls delineating the 21m long and 10.5m wide garden. “The plot was a long, nondescript rectangle of mud with just one nice catalpa,” Julia recalls. The couple were both very experienced gardeners, having downsized from a much larger garden that they had created over 40 years and opened for the National Garden Scheme for 35 years. “Peter was very artistic; he was a scientist and botanist who had always loved plants. He was the kind of child who collected and pressed wildflowers,” says Julia.
The couple had always gardened together, inspired in the early years by Sissinghurst, and learning through trial and error they created an outstanding cottage garden. “So when we arrived here in 2016, we brought with us 60 large pots of plants that we had collected over the decades.” Many were gifts from friends and family or grown from cuttings and seeds given by gardening friends.
“My gardening has never been instant,” notes Julia.
Despite much discussion, the couple could not decide what to do with the garden to begin with. “It could all too easily have ended up looking like a smaller version of our previous one,” recalls Julia. In the end, they decided it should be completely different.
They approached the garden designer Cleve West, who had visited their previous garden. “Their previous garden was beautiful and full of choice plants, so I knew that I needed to maximise the planting space here,” Cleve recalls. “On that basis, I suggested a gravel garden that would allow them access to all areas, while creating the feeling of being immersed in the plants.” A low-main
