Off to the Seaside

I don't like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It's just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.
Walt Disney

On a glorious day we set off for Ringstead Bay, a very wild part of the Dorset coast looking over to Portland. The garden in our sights is set on 4 acres of cliff-side and is approached by a steep, winding path through the blackthorn and alder directly above it and below the National Trust car park.

The owners were certainly up for a challenge when they took this on. They share the plot with badgers, deer and rabbits, which means that any new planting has to be protected by none-too-pretty-looking chicken wire. The salt-laden winds lash to such an extent that the trees take on that particular tapered shape to their tops.

Despite all this, the garden is interesting. Wilderness gives way to tamed woodland and then to relatively flat areas (including a small amount of lawn) around the house. Meandering paths and a series of concrete steps wind between bluebells, hellebore and comfrey planted under specimen trees such as acer and bay (which was flowering beautifully).

One gets glimpses of the ever-present sea between the branches. Facing uphill, the sea becomes the background and the landscape of the garden, the view.

As we toil back uphill towards the car park, we feel we have had a week's exercise, and wonder at the wonderful calf muscles the owners must possess.