Fwd: Habitability

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Rowan Adams <rowan@quickbeam.plus.com>
Date: Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:17:06 Europe/London
To: Ben Armentrout-Wiswall <benjamin.r.aw@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Habitability

Excellent question!

I agree with Ben about shelter and shade - even here in Britain a garden without shade in summer feels hostile to me.
Shelter from wind is always important, though I don't want to be in somewhere that feels airless and without any wind at all. Some walled gardens or very enclosed gardens feel like that. So it's a subtle thing to get it right.

Tranquillity is important for me, but that doesn't mean the whole garden has to feel tranquil - there can be lively parts with lots going on, whether that's people, other animals, bright or garish planting design, or the elements - strong wind, bright sun, natural waterfalls or over-the-top fountains, whatever. Lots of big public gardens are full of people but they can still be welcoming as long as there isn't just too much stuff (some Royal Horticultural Society and National Trust gardens can feel like that, let alone some small private gardens with too much crammed in) and there are some quiet places in them. Two in London that spring to mind are the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, and the London Wetland Centre at Barnes.
The important thing is that there has to be somewhere - at least one place, and preferably several - quiet and secluded that feels safe (Jay Appleton's thing about humans like other prey species - let's be honest about ourselves - wanting to have a spot where we can see without being seen) so whoever comes there can relax.

There can also be things that make me laugh. Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire in Britain is a great place to wander round without the guide book because it's full of surprises (and the route suggested in the guide book when I went round years ago suggested going in the way guaranteed to give the fewest surprises!). The staff at Ventnor Botanic Garden here on the Isle of Wight are always doing new things that make you smile or laugh out loud. It's of my favourite gardens for all sorts of reasons - huge variety of planting, especially good Mediterranean garden, great imagination, great variety of spaces, including both open and enclosed, good plant sales area where you can buy stuff most British gardeners have never even heard of. They're environmentally friendly - for example, they don't water anything once it's established. So you know that if a plant is doing well there it's not because it's being artificially cosseted, it's because it's right plant, right place.

The privacy and seclusion thing is also subtle. I like privacy, but not to the extent of having high fences or even high hedges around a small garden - that feels claustrophobic, and can feel like you're cutting yourself off from your fellow human beings. I think that's why for most ordinary small gardens it's good to have the front garden which is open and welcoming to anybody, and the back garden with hedges or fences which are just high enough to stop people looking in, no higher, and which is only for the people who live there and people they invite into their space.

I like naturalistic, and that's what my own garden is, but I don't mind formal, and I think formal can be done in a relaxed and welcoming way. It's when it's on a grand scale, everything is obsessively manicured, and it's got nowhere to sit, nowhere sheltered, that formal feels oppressive.
I've never been to Versailles, but I imagine I'd hate it because it's about showing off power. The nearest I've been to that was Het Loo in the Netherlands when it was just going through the first stages of restoration, and I didn't like it. But even at Het Loo they had a berceau, a wonderful wooden structure covered in hornbeam that was welcoming, sheltered and secluded, even though a very formal structure.
At Cliveden, a National Trust garden in Britain, there's a vast parterre which would feel oppressive if enclosed, but it overlooks the Thames and a grand sweep of land beyond, so it's actually rather uplifting. Cliveden also has loads more to explore, including lovely secluded and naturalistic parts, so as a whole it's a garden I enjoy visiting.

I like gardens with both long views and small intimate places. The best gardens have both. I don't like gardens or parks where you can see everything all at once. I want somewhere to explore.

The garden I love most so far is Antony, another National Trust garden just inside Cornwall.
It's quiet, sloping down to an estuary, and although it's large and includes a stately home it doesn't feel grand at all. In front of the house are formal terraces above a vast lawn, but the terraces include hidden nooks with beautiful sheltered seats in them, the planting is relaxed, and there's one of the biggest black walnuts in the country in the middle of the lawn, its branches sweeping down to touch the ground.
Off to the side are more formal hedges and topiary and a walled garden. But again they feel welcoming. There are hidden openings which you'll only find if you walk down and explore, and almost all the planting inside the hedges is also relaxed (there's a small knot garden, but it's just part of a whole). There's a big topiary yew cone that must be a pain for the gardeners to keep clipped, but it's got an opening so that you can go inside it, and William Pye has made a gorgeous water sculpture that exactly mirrors its shape, in a way that makes you smile rather than feeling obsessive.
There are all sorts of other delights - a huge cork oak, a big mulberry next to the house, a national collection of daylilies, a wonderful Cornus capitata, the car park small and placed in just the right spot it doesn't intrude, and a tea room serving delicious meals and snacks made from local ingredients, friendly staff...
The thing is that the whole place feels relaxed, and every time I've been there I can feel my heartbeat and breathing slowing down, and a great calm upwelling of peace and happiness. I could wander around there all day and not feel I wanted to rush away to be anywhere else or do anything else.
I haven't been for a few years, and the opening hours used to be quite short, so I still haven't even made it into the adjoining woodland and arboretum, which I suspect are also wonderful.
It was used recently to film Alice in Wonderland, so it may be that it's lost some of its magic. I have wondered whether I woudn't have enjoyed it so much if there had been too many other people there when I went. But the design ideas in it would still be good ones. I'm really looking forwrad to whenever I go again.

Of course most of us don't have several acres and a secluded spot by a beautiful estuary to play with, but I think the ideas are still good. Some sense of purpose and structure, some enclosure and shelter, some views out, some sense of space, some private nooks and crannies with places to sit, and the whole thing relaxed rather than obsessively tidy.


All the best, Rowan
Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Britain


On Thursday, Jul 21, 2011, at 14:04 Europe/London, Ben Armentrout-Wiswall wrote:



Hi All, 
Increasingly one of the most important features in a garden for me is how habitable it is (for humans, that is).
Numerous gardens are designed to be visually beautiful, but often lack any invitation to actually be IN them: they are designed strictly for viewing.

I like a garden that invites me in to stay and be part of it.
Here in inland southern California, that means some degree of shade to protect from the sun's heat, also privacy and shelter from wind.  It also means some less practical, tangible qualities, like tranquillity and mood, and (of course) beauty.

I was just wondering about some other people's favorite gardens or garden spots, and what makes them favorites.  Are they formal or naturalistic? In sun or shade? With long views or close and intimate? Open or secluded?  Could the site be reproduced, or is it a unique feature?

Just wondering.
Best, Ben Armentrout-Wiswall
Simi Valley, inland southern California 
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