Case Study Marks Hall Schoenaich Rees

LOCATION LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Designed to

Suprise

An 18th-century walled garden at the heart of an arboretum has been restored with five gardens for visitors to explore

Blanc de Bierges Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1858 410 048 www.blancdebierges.com

LOCATION LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Jukes comments: “The garden is unusual

in that there are walls on three sides and

a lake on the fourth. I was keen that we

should build on this sense of surprise and

I like the Blanc de Bierges because it is

unexpected. It has toned down beautifully

and complements the walls and soft

landscaping.”

For the Marks Hall garden, Von Schoenaich

created five individual garden rooms,

which, from a distance, are hidden from

view by hornbeam hedges. She explains:

“ This design allows the simplicity of the

whole of the garden to be preserved but

also excites the senses with glimpses of

what lies within each garden room.”

She feels that themed gardens have

become such a fashion and are often quite

ephemeral. She wanted to create a design

that respected the atmosphere of the

existing walled garden and did not hide

the beauty of the 18th century wall.

“The garden has a contemporary look

emphasising the change in garden culture

from a walled garden which produced

fruit and vegetables to a pleasure

garden to be enjoyed by the public.” von

Schoenaich adds.

The idea was to offer a wide range of experiences in terms of the use of space and materials as well as the heights, shapes, colours and seasonality of planting. Much of the planting forms linear strips to emphasise structure - as van Schoenaich felt the derelict garden was “crying out for order”.

Creamy-buff Blanc de Bierges materials- which have similar characteristics to natural stone - are used for paving, edgings, seating and steps. Van Schoenaich chose Blanc de Bierges for a number of different reasons. She explains: “We didn’t want a pastiche version of a historic garden. We wanted a contemporary material that would still work well in front of the old redbrick wall. Also, the range is very versatile, which means you can design around a standard product.”

She adds that the Trust had been keen to use local suppliers wherever possible: Blanc de Bierges materials are all handcrafted in Cheshire using UK-sourced materials.

Just a mile from Coggeshall, Essex, the

Marks Hall Estate Arboretum is a garden

of trees, the place to wind down, walk

and watch wildlife. The estate contains

ornamental lakes, over eight miles of

woodland walks and footpaths and a

18th-century walled garden.

Over the last three decades the estate

has been restored to its former glory by

the Thomas Philips Trust, but the walled

garden had little attention. When the Trust

was formed in 1971 the site of the walled

garden had already been cultivated for

300 years. But by the early 1970s it was a

mess of scrub and debris, with the only

reminders of the original planting being a

few old apple trees.

Trust volunteers tidied up the garden,

grassed It over and planted borders, but

many visitors still found it disappointing

that there wasn’t anything special at this

focal point, compared to the rest of the

arboretum where a different tree flowers

or fruits every day and the shapes and

colours are constantly changing.

So, in 1998, the Trust made the walled

garden its project to mark the 100th

anniversary of Thomas Phillips Price

buying the Marks Hall estate.

Marks Hall curator Jonathan Jukes, says:

“Our objective was to raise the £150,000

needed to clear, re-contour, landscape

and plant the garden.”

It took two years to raise the money - from

charitable trusts, commercial bodies and

visitors - and three years to transform the

garden. Marks Hall staff and volunteers

carried out the management of the project

as well as most of the actual work.

They were supported by designer Brita

van Schoenaich, of Schoenaich Rees

Landscape Architects, who came up with

a flexible plan that, within an overall

framework, allowed the materials and

planting to be adapted according to the

money available.

Handcrafted materialsInterestingly, in such a historic setting,

contemporary, hand crafted Blanc

de Bierges materials have been used

extensively.

Case Study Marks Hall

Schoenaich felt the derelict garden was “crying out for order”

Ancient and modern

Linking themesEach garden room is different but there

are linking themes. The first, with its

tilted earth sculpture, is designed to be

calm and contemplative. Apart from the

grass sculpture, the only planting is a

hedge of pittosporum. This appears in one

corner and ‘climbs through’ the boundary

hornbeam hedge into the second garden.

Here the pittosporum hedge meanders

in sweeps, providing a frame for the

perennial planting and a background for

a future seating area. The planting peaks

in early summer, the colours being typical

of the time of year with pink, primrose,

yellow and shades of blue predominating.

The meandering hedge continues through

the hornbeam enclosure to emerge in the

central garden of spheres.

In this garden, planting turns into stone

with a series of clipped box spheres

linking to stone spheres. These spheres

harmonise with the two-tier linear seating

created from Blanc de Bierges L-modules

and step components. The hot colours of

mid-summer dominate the planting.

The 18th Century wall and contemporary linear seating and steps

Since the walled garden was opened by

the Duchess of Devonshire last summer,

It has proved very popular with visitors

to Marks Hall. This is partly, as Jukes

explains, because it is very different from

other gardens in the area such as The RHS

Garden Hyde Hall, Chelmsford, and The

Beth Chatto Gardens, Elmstead Market.

He says: “We’ve had a tremendous

reaction from people who have visited

other gardens and then come on here.

They are delighted and surprised at our

mixture of hard landscaping and planting.

Visitors like the originality of the garden -

the feeling that it’s not frozen in time”

Ancient and modern

The fourth garden room - where a meandering wall topped with Welsh slate crosses the Blanc de Bierges path

“...Visitors like the originality of the garden - the feeling that it’s not frozen in time”Marks Hall curator Jonathan Jukes

In the fourth garden, a meandering wall

topped with Welsh slate echoes the hedge

of the second. This wall crosses a Blanc de

Bierges path, which is itself a strong point

of visual interest. The paving slabs in two

different sizes are laid to give the path

irregular edges. The planting flourishes

through late summer into autumn with

dark yet vibrant colours.

The final garden is another space of green

calm. Here, the massed horn beams will

be cut to form a series of undulating green

mound. The focal point for the garden is

a shallow pool with slate laid on edge to

create an impression of deep blue water,

even when the area is dry.

Blanc de Bierges Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1858 410 048 www.blancdebierges.com

Blanc de Bierges components used on the Marks Hall Scheme

Saddlebaks

Steps

Retaining Walls

Spiral Stairways

Bespoke

Setts & Slabs

Copings

Pool Tiles

Gull ies & Kerbs

Architectural Masonry

Architectural Cladding

Street Furniture

AmphiSystemTM

Tree Gril les

c o m m i t t e d t o e x c e l l e n c e i n c a s t s t o n e w o r k

Head Office69 Northampton Road Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 9HD United KingdomTel: +44 (0)1858 410 048

www.b lancdeb ierges .com