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Halecat House and Gardens
written by Mrs M Stanley 1993
It has been a great pleasure to make the garden at Halecat and I hope that there will always be scope for change and improvement. |
| The mid 19th century house stands at the head of a small valley with views to Arnside Knott and on a clear day to the Forest of Bowland, some twenty miles away. The basic layout of the garden would seem to have been planned at the same time as the house, although improvements have been made. |
My husband and I came to Halecat about 45 years ago and gradually began to assess the advantages and drawbacks of our garden. The advantage of the view has already been mentioned: the two major difficulties were the poorness of the soil and the planning of the garden which effectively represents a square upon a square. We realized that it was necessary to break up the straight lines of layout and therefore started to plant trees, shrubs and climbers underneath and in front of the retaining walls, so that their shapes would soften the straight lines. Limestone was quarried from under the main herbaceous border and built into a wall to divide the garden from the woodland. Behind the wall are flowering cherries and in front are Clematis grown up metal tripods, roses and other shrubs and climbers including the beautiful Humulus aureus. My mother suggested the hedge of yellow shrub Potentillas which is planted on two sides of the lawn an dis cut to a wavy pattern; in front of it is a hedge of Philadelphus which grow to different heights throwing up branches of white flowers. Beneath are hardy blue and pink Geraniums thickly underplanted with white and yellow daffodils, so that the narrow border gives colour for a long time. At two corners of the lawn are half-standard Whitebeams acting as full stops to the Potentilla hedge. We were anxious to grow Azaleas, so again the compressor was brought in and removed more loads of rock, substituted with peat to provide the necessary acid conditions and for some years we watered the new plants with Sequestrene. Then a hedge of Whitebeam and Prunus pissardii was planted, clipped during the summer to show off the contrasting colours of the new young growth. |
| Across from the Azaleas is a south facing wall which is very precious for the shelter it gives. At the bottom of this slope is a sunken area of pavement with a gazebo or summer house designed by F F Johnson in the Gothic style, complete with fan vaulting and small panels of 16th - 18th century stained glass; he also designed the four obelisks in the upper part of the garden and the flight of steps. From this paved area is a view of the double borders, with metal supports dividing that stretch of garden. Initially these two borders seemed too severe and the metal supports have softened the lines dividing this stretch into sections. Rose Fantin Latour grows well against these supports; underneath are bushes of Cotinus coggygria “Royal Purple”, and I am trying to introduce clematis through Fantin Latour for later colour. Finally a small Rose Muni hedge leads into the last section with junipers and rambler roses on a retaining bank. We are hoping to turn this last division into a pink and white garden and use tall plants of Crambe cordifolia with great effect. |
| The entrance to the garden is through a double white gate and from here the visitors get their first impression of the view of Arnside Knott. We have tried to channel this view between a border or Warminster Broom and Philadelphus “Beauclerk” on one side and the wall of the house on the other. Some effort has been made to divide the garden into different sections, all of which have character; we hope to have softened the hard lines and know that we have improved our soil. It has been and still is great fun to garden here. |
