Cerney House Gardens is a romantic, secret place in the Cotswolds, near to
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. They are part of the home of Sir Michael and Lady
Angus and their family. Set around a Victorian walled garden, they are described
by Country Living as "what most people aspire to in their gardens – and few
achieve".
Lady Angus and her daughter Barbara have developed the garden over the years with a lot of help from nature itself. Barbara had little garden experience when they first arrived but luckily Lady Angus had. When they viewed the estate it was the walled garden that they first fell in love with. This was in the summer and they fell in love all over again when the following spring bulbs erupted from all corners.
The first few years were not kind to the garden when valuable gardening hours were given to renovating and altering their respective properties and by the time serious thought was given to the grounds nature at its worst had made her mark. Following the arrival of Barbara’s third son Luke she decided that a career change from her teaching was called for and asked her mother for ideas. The one that had appeal set them on the path of restoring and enlarging the gardens that you now see.
Organic in approach plants tumble happily over each other and fill the air with
perfume. There are signs of pests and diseases but butterflies and bees give
their seal of approval and add to the feeling of a special place. Herbaceous
borders are packed with old-fashioned favourites and surrounded by roses and
companion climbers.
There is a working Kitchen Garden that supplies family, friends, visitors and some local businesses with fresh fruit and vegetables. Nothing is wasted. Surplus is turned into jams and chutneys and sold locally. The orchard is rich in fruit and is also home to Rosie and Mabel, the Berkshire pigs and Tin Opener the Exmoor ram.
There is a well-labelled herb garden, once home to Boris the Roman snail. It has two areas one a medicinal garden all based on Culpepper that shows how the plants look, but makes no guarantees to the reliability of the cures, and then a culinary part that also shows you plants for infusions and teas. You can walk through the wild flower bank or the woodlands.
Snowdrops give way to daffodils and carpets of bluebells follow early spring
flowers. The summer is a tapestry of shape and colour that changes with the
parkland trees to the rich colours of autumn. All this is shared with grazing
sheep, happy pigs and chicken. And not forgetting Oscar the peacock!
This is a family run garden where everyone can give a hand including the pets. Barbara is full time and Angus grows all the vegetables. Sylvia, Kate and Fran work part time and James does everything else! Lady Angus has been the inspiration for the garden and helps whenever time permits. Sir Michael has been known to make his own contributions. He can prune and may identify plant species but there is no guarantee for accuracy!