The Endsleigh Gardener Autumn Walk

Join The Endsleigh Gardener, Ben Ruscombe-King, for a guided tour of the garden. ‘Autumn, to my mind, offers the most intense of seasonal experiences. Luckily, as a gardener, I am forced to confront the vagaries of an English autumn and am rewarded with an extraordinary swansong to the year. As I write, blusterous winds swirl autumn leaves around the dell, trees sway, clouds dart across the sky, sharp showers are interspersed with intense bouts of sunshine and as the sun catches the leaves of the Acer, Ginkgo, Enkianthus and Liriodendron, the garden is suddenly ablaze. A walk through the garden elicits the satisfying crunch of leaves underfoot and the quality of sound is somehow different from the rest of the year as Repton’s soundtrack of rills, streams, cascades and waterfalls resonates across the valley. The scent of autumn is also quite particular, perhaps more of an aroma: earthy, spicy, smoky, woody and very evocative. Hints of toffee apple, from decaying Cercidiphyllum japonicum leaves, float through the air summoning up bonfire nights and autumn fairs’–Ben Ruscombe-King.