Garden Portrait: More from Nymans

In the late 1800’s Ludwig Messel bought the Nymans Estate in the Sussex High Weald to make a dream family home.

The gardens were inspired by the influential writer William Robinson, and were filled with rare plants and colourful herbaceous borders. The man most responsible for creating the gardens that Messel visualised was James Comber, who became head gardener in 1895. Comber’s son, Harold, became a globe-trotting plant collector, bringing exotic plants back to England from South America and Tasmania. Today it is still a garden lovers’ home – a place to relax all year round and enjoy a peaceful country garden.

Map of the Gardens

Rose Garden

The rose garden is a circular space formally divided into beds intersected by gravel pathways and surrounded by high hedges. In the centre is a fountain in the form of a rose with climbing roses on arches tumbling down around it. The best time to visit is probably earlier in the summer as by late August there were very few roses still in bloom. The gardens have been well known for growing old-fashioned roses, with rich, intoxicating fragrances and pastel shades, for over 100 years.

Hydrangea

Jude-the-Obscure

Pretty Pink

Honeysuckle

Fountain

The House

Three generations of the Messel family have lived at Nymans, from the late 1800’s until 1947 when the house was tragically destroyed by fire. Subsequently the surviving rooms were still used, occasionally to entertain friends and as a base from which to run the garden. Today the ruined house still provides a romantic background for the garden and the remaining Messel Family rooms are open to the public. At the side of the house is a Forecourt Garden with a dovecote in the corner, steps lead up to the top where you have a lovely view over the courtyard.

Fuchsia lined path

Door into the courtyard

Birdbath in the Forecourt Garden

The House

Door

Window panes

Wrought-iron Gates

Arch windows

Dovecote

Rock Garden / Heath Garden

At the far side of the ruined house are the Sunken Garden, complete with Loggia, a Heath Garden and a Rock Garden which are an absolute delight.

A Glimpse of the house

View of the house from the Sunken Garden

Heath Garden

Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia)

Restios

Rock Garden

Rock Garden

Fuchsia lined path

Eucomis bicolor

Heath Garden

Bench with the initial AR = Anne Rosse

June Borders

Obviously designed to look their best in June, these borders still have something to offer in August. Sedums and salvias compete with hydrangeas and helenium.

The June Borders (in late August)

June Borders

Sky-blue Salvia

Cleome – spider leg or spider flower

Baptisia australis (Blue Wild Indigo)

Bookshop

June Borders

In the Top Garden

Echinacea ‘White Swan’

I was delighted to see this lady drawing and painting the gorgeous sedum in the border.

Artist

And even at the entrance / exit the planting continues with a prairie style  garden which is made up of a mixture of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. The style is naturalistic with swathes of planting blocks pioneered by the famous garden designer Piet Oudulf. Flowers, seed-heads and foliage all play their part in the design.

More lovely walks can be found over at my friend Jo’s place.

• Street:  Nymans Garden
• Postcode:  RH17 6EB
• City:  Handcross, Crawley
• County:  Sussex
• Website:  Nymans