Escape to Endsleigh - Special Offer

Book a roomBook a table

Already the morning chorus is enthusiastic

The unbridled enthusiasm of the plants is echoed by the animals, birds and insects

The Endsleigh Gardener
Winter/Spring

By Ben Ruscombe-King

Look out from Endsleigh, over the Tamar and across the wooded hillside to the distant moors, the scene is wintry, monochromatic, a sepia haze, albeit bathed currently in low winter sun. Turn your gaze inward however and little signs of spring are already appearing. At this time of year, to find delight in the garden, one has to work that little bit harder, look that little bit closer but when one does find it, the feeling is somehow more exhilarating. I have already encountered hellebores bowing their beautifully marked faces to the ground, as if embarrassed by their early arrival to the party, they never fail to bring a smile to my face. Cyclamen draw you in like sirens, making up for their diminutive stature with their intense magenta flowers, once ensnared their individual leaf markings and coiled stalks are endlessly fascinating and who can pass a snowdrop without stooping to admire their green markings, and feeling a little more optimistic about the world as a consequence. Winter flowering shrubs have to work harder too, to ensure they are visited by scarce pollinators, Mahonia, Lonicera fragrantissima and Hammemelis flood the air with their exquisite scent, enough to stop one in one’s tracks, enraptured by the wonder of nature.

The Dell never fully hibernates, although the deciduous trees lose their leaves, their branches drip with ferns, mosses and lichen retaining the verdure reminiscent of temperate rainforest. Small shoots are already pushing forth from the ground, in sheltered spots wild garlic leaves are already unfurling their pungent leaves. It won’t be long before that reliable spring indicator species, the hotel chef, appears again foraging along the banks. Those banks already dotted with primroses and daffodils will soon be teeming with flowers as crocus, campion, bluebells and wood anemone burst forth to jostle for position.

Some, admittedly confused, azaleas are already in flower and a few Camellias have burst forth all guns blazing, whilst others are gingerly opening their flowers, one at a time as if blinking into life at the dawn of a new year. The fur covered buds of Magnolias are beginning to swell and will, late frosts allowing, add a little grace to the proceedings before the Rhododendrons, those gaudy show offs, wade in to steal the limelight.

The view at this time of year is more open allowing one to appreciate the garden as a whole and understand Humphrey Repton’s clever manipulation of the landscape and the water. This is the time of year to fully appreciate Repton’s orchestration of the streams, rills, cascades and waterfalls, which create an ever changing soundtrack to the garden. There is more water now and less soundproofing foliage, the effect is dramatic as the water crashes, splashes and froths down the valley to the Tamar below and illustrates, perfectly, Repton’s intent for the water to be “broken into froth and foam”.

In the formal gardens around the house things are starting to wake up, Iris unguicularis and winter aconite flower alongside the hellebores and snowdrops, soon to be joined by scilla, Ipheion, Leucojum, Muscari and Iris reticulata. Things will soon be moving on apace as the borders fill and buds swell, tulips burst forth in the borders and amongst the wallflowers in the parterre, which this year will be a vestal all white affair.

As always the unbridled enthusiasm of the plants is echoed by the animals, birds and insects, already the morning chorus is enthusiastic but as we move into spring it becomes more urgent, the tapping of woodpeckers echoes round the valley, small mammals scurry across the paths, nest building accelerates and the gentle buzzing of bees provides a soundtrack on the sunnier days. This intense activity of both flora and fauna canโ€™t fail to elicit a similar response in us, a verve and energy unlike any other time of year. Itโ€™s suddenly time to get up, get out and get on, carpe diem!  

Previous blog

5 Jan-27 Mar

Escape to Endsleigh

Book a three-night stay arriving before 25 March and receive a complimentary three-course dinner on your first night, a 10% discount on the bed and breakfast rate, and a glass of Champagne to welcome you.