Rare garden being restored with innovative solutions

A PIONEERING restoration project is breathing new life into the ‘garden in the wood’ at the National Trust’s Knightshayes Court, where gardeners are replanting rare specimens and trialling replacing degraded peat blocks with sustainable cob.

- LEWIS CLARKE

The garden in the wood is one of only two botanical gardens in the world to be laid out in such a woodland setting.

Created by Sir John Heathcoat-Amory and Joyce Lady Amory after the Second World War, the garden was designed to showcase rare and unusual plants cultivated at Knightshayes.

‘A dedicated team led by senior gardener John Ridgeley is restoring the garden using traditional techniques with a modern, eco-conscious twist.

“The idea was to raise the beds up so that the interesting specimen plants they had were shown off in a nice area, with nice shrubs and rhododendrons around sheltering them’ said John. “It's like a display case.”