A series of colourful and characterful gardens surrounding a sea-facing East Sussex farmhouse
Good things come to those who wait, and few have shown more patience, or been more richly rewarded, than Richard Smith and his husband Andrew Blackman. At the end of the last millennium, they fell in love with an abandoned, 17th-century farmhouse hidden within a nature reserve on the East Sussex coast and were determined to make it their home. Repeated attempts to buy the property were thwarted, but they returned to plot, dream and picnic illicitly on the overgrown lawn. When they finally succeeded in securing the house several years later, it was almost derelict. ‘We had to rebuild it from the roof down,’ says Richard. ‘But we could always see what it would become.’
Richard, who has his own fabric house Madeaux in addition to designing the brand No.9 Thompson and wallpapers for Dado Atelier, is also a talented artist. So conjuring up inviting, layered interiors came fairly easy, though it drained their energy (and budget) for the next six years. ‘But we wanted the house and garden to sit well in this extraordinary landscape,’ he says.
They loved the few mature trees already growing around the house and envisioned dividing the space into a sequence of outdoor rooms in which they could indulge their passion for entertaining. Taking inspiration from the topiary gardens of Powis Castle and of Marqueyssac (featured in the December 2023 issue of House & Garden), they debated the layout of hedges endlessly until, 12 years ago, they finally placed an order for hundreds of tiny yews. ‘We consulted various experts, who all said go as small as you dare,’ says Richard. ‘So we bought 15cm-tall plants and didn’t lose a single one. They’re well above head height now. People think yew grows slowly but it isn’t true.’
As their hedges matured, they added more architectural planting, including tall holm oak cylinders, massed domes of boxwood and a whimsical topiary garden. ‘We pushed the boat out to buy 1.5-metre plants and are currently coaxing them into shapes, including a Dalek and a croquembouche,’ he adds.
Then, in 2018, the couple decided that an ornamental border or two would not go amiss. ‘But we needed help. Colour is my thing – I know very little about plants,’ says Richard. Serendipity led them to James Horner, a talented young gardener who had just completed a scholarship at Great Dixter in East Sussex. A mutually enriching partnership developed as they slowly built elements of interest into the garden. James began to exploit the quirks of the hedging, emphasising an occasional bulging surface and coaxing shapes to emerge above the flat-clipped tops. He also worked on the garden’s boundaries, planting more trees and improving the grassland meadows where they merged with the surrounding nature reserve.
Meanwhile, in the heart of the garden, they developed a series of colour-themed plantings, including one they named the ‘off colours garden’ because it features plants in a muted palette, such as bruised purple Rosa ‘Reine des Violettes’ and dirty apricot Achillea ‘Lachsschönheit’. ‘And we cheered up a boring viburnum by growing a nice clematis through it,’ says Richard.
Tucked against one boundary wall, where a groom’s bothy has been turned into a pretty guest cottage, is a white garden with a wisteria trained up a chestnut pole, Buddleja ‘Lochinch’ and masses of pale Nicotiana sylvestris and Verbascum blattaria. In summer, Richard and Andrew set out a dining area in this sheltered space and enjoy the way that the flowers glow against their backdrop of dark yew. There has, says Andrew, been ‘considerable border inflation over the years’. Though the garden is still predominantly green, it now also contains a flamboyantly colourful cutting garden, a cobbled yard hazy with verbena and Mexican daisies, and a sun-baked terrace, where fennel, alchemilla and quaking grass rise from the paving cracks to sway romantically in the sea breeze.
And in every area there is somewhere to sit. This is a garden to be in, not just to look at. ‘Our friends have learned to dress warmly when they visit,’ says Richard. ‘They know that we will be outside for every moment possible.’ After they have spent more than 20 years patiently coaxing their dream into reality, who can blame them?
Madeaux By Richard Smith: madeaux.com | James Horner Gardens: jameshornergardens.com
Dean Hearne1/8Bay topiary and giant fennel seed heads provide height in the ‘off colours garden’.
Dean Hearne2/8A cloud-pruned buxus in the topiary garden was a gift from Charlotte Molesworth.
Dean Hearne3/8The seaward front of the house is a backdrop for topiary and freeform box, spiky Yucca glauca, pink Salvia microphylla ‘Cerro Potosí’ and white Oenothera lindheimeri.
Dean Hearne4/8Borders of dahlias, nicotiana and Erigeron annuus lead to a gap in the hornbeam hedging giving a view of the cobbled courtyard at the back of the house.
Dean Hearne5/8Rosa ‘Charisma'
Dean Hearne6/8Fanciful yew forms in the topiary garden.
Dean Hearne7/8Nicotiana sylvestris, Erigeron annuus and mauve Verbena bonariensis.
Dean Hearne8/8Box balls are interspersed with euphorbia, agapanthus and nepeta
