Download - Blanc De Bierges Marks Hall
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