A duchess' picturesque Cotswold cottage garden filled with a riot of flowers
It is not hard to surmise which of a picturesque group of cottages on the Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire is home to Miranda, Duchess of Beaufort - or Miranda Beaufort, as she prefers to be known. Over a high Cotswold stone wall clambers a generous shower of roses and clematis and, and beyond, are tantalising suggestions of a formal stone arch, neat topiary apexes and domes, specimen shrubs in flower. It is obvious that what lies within is not a traditional estate worker's cottage garden.
Steps lead from the top terrace of Well Cottage to a perfectly striped circular lawn and glorious herbaceous borders of whites and soft blues, mauve and pink, as well as yellow and creamy apricot that shine against the backdrop of a square of yew hedging. The display lasts well into autumn, when asters, Japanese anemones and dahlias take over from the likes of irises, phlox, foxgloves, geraniums, delphiniums and peonies.
These areas were established when Miranda lived here in the late 1990s, before she moved to Badminton House on her marriage, in 2000, to David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort and the cottage was then rented out. Yet there is more to be revealed, as a broad path running down the central spine of the garden to a gate and glimpses of the Capability Brown-designed parkland beyond suggests.
In his later years and in failing health, the Duke (who died in 2017) encouraged Miranda to further develop the garden, so it would be established by the time his son Harry, 12th Duke, and their daughter-in-law, Georgia, took over Badminton House, and she would move back to Well Cottage. David had already helped on the layout of the original terrace, which levelled the sloping site. 'He was excellent at seeing what was needed. He had a very good eye, a bit like an architect,' says Miranda. Together, they planned an expansion of the space by knocking through the bottom wall, so the garden is now double its original length, with further garden rooms creating different moods emanating from each side of the path.
The eye is tricked into thinking it is all symmetrical and rectangular when, in fact, it fans out lopsidedly into yet more rooms, their existence hidden until one ventures forth. 'You can disguise things easily,' says Miranda, who plays down her own abilities and knowledge of plants, which she learned as a young woman and from her time developing the gardens at Badminton House. With her friend Jane Nicholas, she worked as a garden designer ('in a modest way) and together they wrote the book Easy Gardening: Recipes for Successful Planting.*
Elements of ‘the big house’ have found their way to this more modest plot, without looking overly grandiose. Among them is a copy of the formal stone arch. This leads into the cottage's walled garden and, framed by two large lollipop holm oaks, links the old and new areas, as do repetitions of the intense planting in the circular garden. Some areas are kept low-key, not only as her gardeners - Peter Thornhill, a rose expert, and Gill Murphy - are part-time, but to give a pause from the herbaceous intensity. Topiary and formal hedges of yew, hornbeam, beech and laurel provide green respite and divide the spaces. 'People are rude about laurel, but I think it's wonderful. It grows so quickly, and you can clip and shape it,' Miranda says.
In contrast, roses are everywhere, enjoying the rich clay soil: surrounding the windows and doors of the cottage; up trellises, arbours and walls; and playing a major role in the borders. Miranda is particularly fond of the rambler ‘Ghislaine de Féligonde’ and has used it extensively, along with similarly peachy cream 'Alister Stella Gray'. Elegant benches placed at the end of vistas provide focal points, and enhance the sense of a continuing journey, offering somewhere to head to for taking in one's surroundings.
Whereas this part of the garden is all about enclosure, across the lane is yet another area created by Miranda. There is little shade in the open, south-facing site and it provides a new home for plants that have outgrown their space or have not done well in the walled garden, such as penstemons, particular favourites. Here the scheme is more silvery, white and blue - including Artemisia 'Powis Castle', geraniums, hydrangeas and irises - with plants wandering into the cruciform gravel paths around a small pond. Among the irises appeared a scented white one with blue-tinged petals, which flowers twice a year. Miranda took it to West Kington Nurseries, who could not find any record of it. Hence its name: Iris 'Miranda Beaufort'.
This is no private paradise, however, and Miranda opens the garden regularly for charity. She loves visitors being interested in it and asking questions about the plants. With so many different moods and corners, it is a garden that invites exploration. 'I would like people to feel that they want to come back,' she enthuses.
The garden opens in June for Dorothy House hospice care's 50th anniversary. For details, visit dorothyhouse.org.uk
Britt Willoughby Dyer1/3In the open area across the lane from the main garden, sun-loving plants such as irises, ‘Hidcote’ lavender, peonies, Artemisia 'Powis Castle' and Campanula persicifolia grow through the gravel.
Britt Willoughby Dyer2/3Looking across the central pond to the trees and topiary in the formal garden beyond the yew hedge.
Britt Willoughby Dyer3/3Miranda raises plants from seeds and cuttings in the greenhouse, which also shelters the pink pelargonium 'Millfield Gem', taken from the original plant in the conservatory at Badminton House
