Simon has worked previously for the RHS as a garden manager at Harlow Carr and Wisley. He trained as a BBC journalist eventually working on such projects as the Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows and the Gardeners’ World programme. He has also written numerous horticultural books and articles for gardening magazines. His latest book, The Good Gardener, is a must have for all gardeners.
How long have you been head gardener?
I’ve been here for seven months. I moved with my family from Polesden Lacey in Surrey, which is also a National Trust property. We have a house in Brixham, which has distant views over the harbour, and Torbay. I met my wife when we were both at Wisley and she is a gardener too.
What does your job as head gardener entail?
I look after the English Riviera portfolio - so that’s Greenway - Agatha Christie’s holiday home, Coleton Fishacre and then I always like to say I also have a castle and a manor house: Compton Castle and Bradley Manor near Newton Abbot.
Tell us a little more about the two smaller properties.
At Compton Castle we work closely with the donor family, Geoffrey and Angela Gilbert. The Gilbert family’s association with the castle stretches back to the 14th century and it is fantastic to have all that history there. I love the garden because it has a little bit of everything: a water feature, rose garden, orchard, herbaceous border, statues, kitchen garden and wild flower meadow as well as the castle itself. It is also very manageable to visit as you can walk round it in under an hour.
Bradley Manor also has a donor family and they have their own gardener. The National Trust doesn’t actually do the garden here but we are always available with any advice the family may want with horticultural matters.
Which of your four properties takes up most of your time at the moment?
Greenway, as there is most to do here. It is a really exciting garden and it is looking stunning but we can always make it even better. We have done a lot of work on paths and infrastructure and now we are concentrating on the planting. Greenway has a reputation as one of the best spring gardens with displays of rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias. I want to up the colour for the rest of the year. So we have started planting acers and trees for autumn colour. We are also getting the vegetable garden up and running again. Agatha Christie’s son in law, Anthony, ran his nursery from the walled garden. We have some very rare and lovely plants and we’d like visitors to be able to take a little bit of Greenway away with them.
Which is more visited - Greenway or Coleton?
It is very close between the two but interestingly, they are famous for different reasons. In gardening terms, Coleton is one of the National Trust members’ favourite gardens; everybody has heard of it and its standard of horticulture is incredible. I have never seen a better garden by the National Trust - it is just an amazing combination - the gardens are beautiful with stunning views and then there is the sea. It also has an unusual rare micro climate where we can grow special plants like the protea form South Africa which is flowering now. Coleton is unique. Greenway, we almost describe as being on the edge of wildness. It also has the Agatha Christie connection, which is a strong story in itself as well as 400 years of plant collections, historic buildings, walled garden, dahlia collection and one of the longest peach houses in England.
What is your favourite National Trust garden excluding your own?
Polesden Lacey in Surrey has always been a really special garden for me. It has parkland with stunning views over the North Downs to distant views over London and beyond. The gardens are of a very high standard; it has the longest double herbaceous borders and a very extravagant rose garden as well as a kitchen garden and it even has chickens. I also love the atmosphere; the lady who owned it, Mrs Greville was the ultimate party giver, the hostess with the mostest in the 1920’s. Royal visitors from around the world would head down to Poleden Lacey rather than Buckingham Palace. Visitors included Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill. It was where King George VI had his honeymoon and where Edward VII took his mistresses. What I love most is that the spirit of that time of extravagance and flamboyance can still be felt in the gardens.
Do you ever get the chance to go to the Chelsea flower show?
Yes, I do. I went on press day this year as I write for the magazine “ Grow Your Own”. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain so we all crowded into the marquee and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing and you are rubbing shoulders with all these celebrities drinking champagne. Press day is special because you do get the opportunity to walk into and around the gardens, which is how they were designed and how they are judged.
You have your book The Good Gardener out now. Are you working on anything else at the moment?
I am writing a book about raised beds, which I am really excited about. It is an environmental and sustainable way of growing using a keyhole shaped raised bed. The circular raised bed has a bit in the middle you can walk into with the compost heap in the middle secured by chicken wire. You keep feeding the compost in with no need for artificial fertilisers. The compost percolates through and leaches out into the beds. The idea comes from Africa where it is a very old practice. I have also recently written the Gourmet Vegetable Book.
What one plant couldn’t you live without?
My favourite plant is an apple tree. Partly, it is where my career started in the fruit department at Wisley. Also, I love old orchards and the structure of the old gnarled trunks. I like that you can plant them in tiny areas or in magnificent orchards, you have beautiful spring blossom and there is so much variety in the different colours, sizes and ranges and if you choose three or four trees carefully, you can have fruit from late August through to the following summer.
What do you do in your spare time?
I am a beekeeper. I brought my two hives of bees down to Devon from Surrey in the boot of my car and I could hear them buzzing all the way down. I like doing anything outdoors so I do a lot of running, wild swimming, mountain biking and canoeing. I was wild swimming at Christmas at Mansands and that was great fun!
First Published By The Dart July 2015 Issue
