We like to garden naturally here,” says Mark Saunders, head gardener at Fittleworth House in West Sussex. Just this morning, he has logged sightings of a firecrest and red kite in his daily wildlife diary, and tree creeper, spotted fly catcher and blue tits are nesting in the magnificent 250-year-old cedar of Lebanon.
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Boosting biodiversity and gardening sustainably are central to the way he works, including the creation of wild habitats, large-scale composting, organic pest control and use of local and reclaimed materials, as well as managing the food growing for the family from the ornamental kitchen garden. “Wildlife is the priority for me,” he says.
Fittleworth House: in brief
- What A naturally romantic private garden with Spring Garden, Stream Garden, Fountain Garden, walled kitchen garden, glasshouse and potting shed.
- Where West Sussex.
- Size Three acres.
- Soil Sandy loam over clay. Climate Temperate.
- Hardiness zone USDA 9a.
Mark has been gardening at the Georgian property for 27 years and his affinity with the land is striking. He moves through the space as if connected to it, telling and relishing the stories of the restoration and management of the three-acre garden. The Grade II-listed house was built in around 1720 from locally quarried stone as a home for the squire of the village and is now the home of Edward and Isabel Braham and their children.
I’m of the Christopher Lloyd school – I don’t care too much about what you think of my colour schemes
Mark works with his son Peter and part-time Alan Seeley, and has valuable help from volunteers. “The day-to-day running of the garden, designing, and implementation of plans and maintenance are down to us, but obviously major projects are fully discussed with the owners. They are very interested in the garden but don’t actively garden themselves. The garden is part of their home, but we are entrusted to run and manage it for them.”
I like to think of the pond as a mini reserve, where wildlife can just be, and be encouraged
When Mark arrived in October 1997, he recognised he had been given a real gift. “The garden was very underdeveloped with few borders and a walled garden in need of organising. It was the ideal project to dedicate a large portion of my life to. And it’s not over yet.” The first thing he did, though, was organise the old potting shed. “Set up base operation. Pots organised. Tools sorted. Then I moved on to the actual gardening.”
Behind this well-organised shed, which is romantically covered with three different clematis – C. Crystal Fountain (= ‘Evipo038’), C. ‘Niobe’ and C. ‘Nelly Moser’ – is the Spring Garden, filled with long grass and the tall umbels of Anthriscus sylvestris, alongside rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias giving colourful blowsiness. It’s clear that gentle shape and pattern are important to Mark’s design ethos.
If you can see an edge, humans respond to it. Lines tell us where to walk
A mown path leads up a gradual slope and past a fragrant Malus hupehensis, with its white blossoms, which in autumn turn to rich-red crab apples. “My favourite tool is actually a strimmer – it just defines an edge,” he says. “If you can see an edge, humans respond to it. Lines tell us where to walk.”
At the start of his tenure, Mark cleared a vast Rhododendron ponticum from this area to make way for the first of three ponds that now teem with newts, frogs, toads and dragonfly larvae. “I like to think of it as a mini reserve, where wildlife can just be,” he says. “And be encouraged.”
He is tolerant of blown-in weeds and wildflowers, such as red campion and purple loosestrife, that he knows will benefit pollinators and act as groundcover to protect the soil’s mycorrhizal fungi from getting burned by the sun.
From the house, the east- and southeast-facing land is terraced with gentle formality. “It’s all about the layering: from trees down to shrubs, down to herbaceous perennials and annuals. I want the structure to feel organic,” explains Mark.
A bank of shrub roses, such as Rosa ‘Ballerina’, R. Bonica (= ‘Meidomonac’) and R. Rosy Cushion (= ‘Interall’), with an understorey of bee-loving Allium siculum, geraniums and anthemis, gives way to the croquet lawn. Bordered on its southern edge by the cedar of Lebanon and on its northern edge by an imposing holm oak, the cut lawn is lined with useful structural shrubs (or ‘good do-ers’ as Mark calls them), such as Phormium tenax, Sarcococca confusa and various pittosporum.
Steps lead down into the Fountain Garden with a raised circular pond at its heart. Peter, who has worked alongside his father for ten years, has planted 50-odd topiary Buxus with establishing groups of Molinia, Festuca and Carex interspersed with Dierama. Pots of tulips include Tulipa ‘Angélique’, T. ‘Kingsblood’ and T. ‘Antoinette’.
When it comes to annuals, dahlias take the lead – 140 were grown last year, some from seed – with cosmos, scabious and asters in abundance. “Nothing too garish,” says Mark. “But I’m of the Christopher Lloyd school – I don’t care too much about what you think of my colour schemes.”
The joy of the garden at Fittleworth House is that it isn’t overly mothered or smothered. It’s a tranquil place for bringing together people, plants and wildlife. “It’s slightly wild and woolly around the edges, but gardened with enough structure and a lot of love,” says Mark. “I don’t want to force the garden to do anything it doesn’t want to do.”
Useful information
Address Fittleworth House, Bedham Lane, Fittleworth, Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 1JH. Tel 01798 865074. Web ngs.org.uk Open For the NGS on 23 and 30 April, 7 and 14 May, and other dates throughout the year. See website for details.
8 key plants from Fittleworth
