A Beast is what the garden at Follers Manor was before Landscape Architect Ian Kitson turned into a Beauty that complements its elevated surroundings in the newly designated South Downs Country Park. Featured in Channel 4’s programme Landscape Man, Follers Manor is located at the eastern end of the South Downs and was a project that offered the opportunity to demonstrate just how beautiful a wildflower meadow can look when integrated into an innovative modern design. Full of flair and elegance there are distinct echoes of Antoni Guadi’s Parc Guell with an English twist.
When we were first approached in May 2009, we only had a vague idea of how glorious the finished garden would be. Ian’s design featuring a wildlife pond at the bottom of an intricate winding path naturally had to have a wildflower meadow, which created a seamless vista against a backdrop of the East Sussex countryside. We are sure you will agree with us when we say we were thrilled when we saw the finished project.
Wildflower meadows are a surefire way to guarantee plenty of wildlife around a wildlife pond. Delicate and enchanting Dragonflies, Bees, Damselflies and Butterflies as observed at our own lakeside wildflower meadow (Bug Report coming soon) make this design as ecologically friendly as you could get in such a logistically difficult location as the South Downs National Park.
With pink Campions and Ragged Robin waving in the breeze with Tufted Vetch, Yellow Rattle and dazzling Oxeye Daisies, along with the vast array of wildlife that ventures by is a feast to be reckoned with. We are absolutely certain that clients Ann and Geoff Shaw will thoroughly enjoy relaxing by the pond as they relish their dream landscape in the beautiful South Downs.
On the TV front we have also supplied wildflower roof turf to Grand Designs due to be broadcasted later this year. “So watch this space” as they say, and lets see who else has decided that grand architecture is enhanced and enriched by wild flower meadows!