The Herb Garden and Summerhouse

Early photograph, 1953-57

Sybil working in Herb Garden, 1959

Small pond in middle of the garden, 1959

Garden in 1960

In 1966 before the Summerhouse was built

Looking towards the house and potting shed, 1967

With the Summerhouse, 1971

Bonsai, Imperial Jade, 1972

The first herb garden at York Gate was on the site of the original farmhouse, however it was sold with the farmyard in 1957 and a new one was created in the area leading on from the Fern Border. 

Various arrangements and plantings were tried. In her 1965 talk about York Gate Sybil says "I wouldn't really recommend anyone who isn't a dedicated gardener to plant a herb garden. Most of the herbs grow with such abandon that they need a vast amount of attention in the way of cutting back, trimming and the beds must be re-made at least every three years. The mints are particularly vigorous. I grow 5 varieties. Apple, eau-de-cologne, peppermint, bergamot and Bowles. These I grow in outsize flower pots, half sunk in the ground to control the roots, but they have to be replanted each year. Then the little hedges have to be trimmed and the herbs harvested just at the right time. But to have one's own fresh herbs and the delightful fragrance and peace of the herb garden on a summers day, to me, is well worth while".  

Robin describes the final layout as follows:

“A gravel path runs up the middle, in the centre a millstone around which stand the pots of mint.  This has the effect of dividing each of the side borders into two, and in the middle of each division is a spirally clipped box tree.  These are invaluable for giving form to the garden in winter.

At the top of the central path, standing on a small stone pedestal, is our prize Japanese bonsai, a juniper about 125 years old, trained to a spectacular moulded and rounded shape, with a thick curved trunk and bent to a quarter circle.

Forming the background of the border are purple, green and golden sage, the two forms of variegated balm, grey and green cotton lavender, a few plants of hyssop (because of their spikes of blue flowers), white – variegated and blue rue, single dot plants of bronze fennel, sweet Cecily and angelica, plus golden and silver thyme, the culinary sort and on the edge, the creeping kinds with white and purple flowers – and also by far the most spectacular of herb flowers, bergamot; but I find ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ and ‘Croftway Pink’ much easier than the other coloured varieties…..Apart from the bergamots, the two showiest herbs are the large leafed golden balm (Melissa officinalis ‘Aurea’) and the white variegated apple mint….the former has an astringent and refreshing lemon scent and the latter a strong but soft smell of maturing apples.”

Robin's sketch of the Summerhouse

View in 1970

Showing the Istrian Font, 1970

Carved stone column

Sybil with tea table

At the far end of the hedge lined herb garden, is the summerhouse, which was designed by Robin.

In 1970 Sybil says "In 1967 we built a stone summerhouse at the end of the herb garden. This is a very sheltered spot, facing due south and we are able to have tea here all the year round." 

While Robin describes it as follows:

“The fourth side of the herb garden, beyond the veritable bonsai, is taken up with the summer house, and a visitor entering the garden probably notices this long before the herbs. It creates a quite different effect from any other part of the garden : the ‘cottaginess’ is replaced by a Mediterranean feel from the near-Doric style pillars, but this is offset by an atmosphere nearly Japanese.  The whole is not definable, but invites you to sit down and take your ease.

The summer house itself is a simple oblong stone building with a Yorkshire slate roof, open on one side, with two pillars supporting the heavy beam across the opening.  The interior is rendered and painted off-white.  Before the rendering was dry, it was gently dabbed with a wet sponge, to expose the particles of sand in the cement and give a pleasant rough texture to the surface.  The flagged floor extends to make a terrace in front of the summer house, and the ceiling is cedarwood boarding.”