We bought Culver House in February 1985 and it came with a huge but neglected garden, so neglected that some parts of it were unreachable. That first year I worked hard on the house and garden, clearing weeds, collecting rubbish, hacking back overgrown brambles.
The pear tree against the wall was one of two planted by Reg Cottrell probably between the wars. I met Reg once when he was very old. He had been the chauffeur-gardener and his wife the cook-housekeeper to the Misses Mortimer, of the Mortimer family of Uton Barton. This tree died, but the other tree was deliberately killed by the builders constructing Culver Court. There is an apple tree on the right of the photograph which also died, as did other trees in the upper garden. The granite roller on the right is still in the garden. There was a border of heather plants on the left hand edge of the lawn.
The north-east corner of the upper garden. In the corner had been a small modern greenhouse, of which the crude foundations remained. There was also a peach tree, which suffered terribly from leaf curl and eventually succumbed.
The south-east corner of the lower lawn, with the side door.
The south-east corner of the upper garden, with a simple corrugated-iron garden shelter and another vanished apple tree.
Looking across the upper garden to the north, with the old garage buildings behind, now built on with flats as Alexander Court.
Originally the garden path was a lane, which continued to Mill Street, but the right of way was sold off by the previous owner, and this ugly block wall was built.
During that first summer of 1985 I reslated the roof of Culver House and painted the outside.
Looking down from the scaffolding, you can see that the upper garden was quite a mess. There was once a cob wall going from the side door of which only the footing stones remained.
I was already keeping and breeding and chickens again.
Brana and Leo go up from the old back door. The path slopes steeply up towards the steps leading to the upper garden, which was acquired in the 1920s.
Here you can see the house, the contiguous kitchen with back door, and the 'barn' that Mr Lee converted as a billiard hall for his sons, but originally had had living quarters upstairs for stable boys, and possibly a laundry downstairs. It was all pretty neglected and decayed by 1985. Also visible is the outside toilet, and, on the extreme right, the underground chamber we called 'Sunshine Cottage' which was for our children to play in. I built the dovecote, but pigeons always fled to Downs Home Farm.
The lower lawn, with the slope to the upper garden, and the remains of the footing to the old cob boundary wall. Behind the upper garden can be seen the cider orchard, but sadly this was largely destroyed by a great storm that destroyed over eighty of the trees by uprooting them.
Leo next to the heather, with a Black Minorca cockerel nearby. There were some steps up to the corner of the lawn that I later removed.
During a winter frost, after I had cleared away the overgrown mess on the upper garden, I was able to mark out my proposed plans for the new garden, inspired by the writings of Gertrude Jekyll.
On the left can be seen an iron gate that I installed as the new side gate.
In the Spring I created new steps from the lower lawn to the upper garden, and collected all the stones from the old wall.
I planted dividing hedges of Thuja plicata, with golden leylandii at openings, and bordered beds with stones.
I had also cleared what was once known as 'the Country Walk', the survival of a medieval lane that led to the Bishop's Barns at the site of Culver House and Fair Park. I planted blackcurrant bushes near the beginning, and tulips that were a gift from David Wagg at Fair park, the owner of Rogers Garden Centre in Exeter. A section of the cob wall had collapsed on the left, which I rebuilt using blocks.
Sheep in the cider orchard.
I planted many roses bought from Rogers Garden centre. These are my beloved Mme Isaac Pereire. One still survives.
On the left can be the wistaria which we inherited, but which has been always a disappointment, rarely flowering.
In the upper garden I created this path, lined with stachys lanata and columns of rambler rose Lady Gay.
In the lower garden too there was a transformation. We paid for the path on the right to be excavated, as it had been completely filled with rubble from the linhay in the courtyard that burned down a couple of years before we arrived.
The white roses are Blanc Double de Coubert and the red rose was a Gertrude Jekyll recommendation: Grüss an Teplitz.
The long double border that I created I planted in hot colours: yellows, oranges and reds.
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