Marvels of the moor

Set in a steep valley just below Dartmoor, these romantic woodland gardens are filled with exotic trees and flowering shrubs, many of historic importance, writes Caroline Donald

- Caroline Donald

IF only spread counted towards becoming a UK champion tree, the Magnolia campbellii at Lukesland, a former hunting lodge above Ivybridge and two fields below Dartmoor, would well qualify: its branches reach an impressive 95ft across. Alas, there is one at Borde Hill in West Sussex with a wider trunk girth, so it takes the credit, but, in the end, what’s in a title? In full flower in March, Lukesland’s magnolia is a magnificent sight. Although, says Rosemary Howell, such a display is a rare treat in a garden 600ft above sea level: ‘Most years, the flowers start coming out and then it is frosted.’

Good things come to those who wait, however, and Mrs Howell has witnessed the mag- nolia’s display many times. She has known Lukesland since the 1950s, when she would come camping on Dartmoor as a Cambridgeuniversity friend of Brian Howell, whom she would later marry. His parents Howard and Muriel had bought the estate in 1930: ‘It was the Depression, so there were a lot of estates going quite cheaply. They decided on this because my mother-in-law wanted to hunt on the moor,’ explains Mrs Howell, who moved to the Victorian Gothic house in 1975 with her husband. He died in 2003 and she still lives there with her son, John, and his wife, Lorna.