The Suffolk Collection: in an English Country garden

8 June 2021

Suffolk is a quintessentially English county of gentle rolling farmland, thatched cottages and moated halls that have famously inspired and been encapsulated by native artists Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable.

Delve into the rich history of Crowe Hall
Explore the stunning family garden of the Old Rectory at Nacton
Enjoy an exclusive tour of Helmingham Hall with Lady Xa Tollemache
Visit Columbine Hall with garden designer George Carter
See the gardens at Wyken Hall & Pykards Hall
Spend time wandering the gardens at Polstead Mill and enjoy a special lunch

Enjoy a rare chance to visit fine private gardens in this pastoral haven accompanied by experts Stephen Anderton and Sophie Piebenga. We are accommodated for the three nights at the iconic Swan Hotel, a half-timbered, fifteenth-century building set in the heart of Lavenham, the county’s most beautiful medieval village: a stylish, comfortable hotel with fine food and peaceful ambience.

Day 1:
The tour commences at The Swan Hotel in Lavenham for those wishing to leave cars or Manningtree Railway Station, for those travelling by train. We then drive together by coach to Crowe Hall on the Shotley peninsula. Crowe Hall’s rich history has been added to by the present owners Stephen & Billy Clark who have called upon the leading designers of the day, notably Tom Stuart-Smith and Christopher Bradley- Hole, to help make a wonderful modern garden in an ancient setting overlooking the Stour estuary. After a special invitation to lunch in the orangery we travel across the River Orwell to The Old Rectory at Nacton, a much-loved and well-planted two-acre family garden developed and cared for by Elizabeth Wellesley-Wesley. We then check in at The Swan where we will stay for the duration of the tour with evening meals and wine included.
Day 2:
Helmingham Hall has been the home of the Tollemache family since the 1400s and is one of Britain’s most impressive gardens. Leading garden designer and multiple Chelsea Gold winner Lady Xa Tollemache will give us a personal tour of the beautifully maintained, extensive, walled and moated gardens, part of which date back to the sixteenth century. Next, we visit the moated Columbine Hall in its romantic, pastoral setting. Norfolk-based garden designer George Carter advised owners Hew Stevenson and Leslie Geddes-Brown on the lay-out of the garden which includes pleached lime and hornbeam hedges and a richly planted kitchen garden. After lunch in its ancient black feather-boarded barn, we travel up the road to Wood Farm, a 500-year old Suffolk farmhouse. Here the owner Emily Shelley has transformed an arable field into a huge flower meadow whilst her front garden is a mass of informal planting, including roses, hollyhocks and paeonies, hiding a layout of paths. We return to The Swan for dinner together.
Day 3:
First stop is Wyken Hall, home of Sir Kenneth Carlisle and his wife Clara, food writer and Country Life columnist. Their friend the garden designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd helped them lay out the present garden around the original Tudor house. Time is included to browse the exclusive shop. Then an invitation to a simple lunch at Ousden House by owners, Mr & Mrs Robinson. In the afternoon we visit Pykards Hall where the owners Louise and Clive Drayton have transformed their pig and arable farm into a thriving business (Italian Terrace) which produces huge Italian clay pots. The garden surrounding their ancient Suffolk hall contains planters constructed of modern steel bands whilst clever groundworks play tricks on the eye. Sarah Cook (ex-Sissinghurst Head Gardener, now specialist iris grower) will join us for dinner at The Swan following a short pre-dinner talk on the artist Cedric Morris who developed his famous iris collection at nearby Benton End.
Day 4:
After a free morning to explore the medieval wool cloth town of Lavenham we visit the garden of Polstead Mill. The River Box, feeding the mill race and pond, runs through the garden, separating the flowerfilled borders around the eighteenth-century house from the meadow and walled kitchen garden. After a special home-cooked lunch prepared by owner Lucy Bartlett we travel on to The Place for Plants, a well-stocked nursery and garden centre with an arboretum laid out along a small stream. Fourth generation growers Rupert and Sara Eley, both serving on various RHS committees, will give us a guided tour through the arboretum with its rambling roses and flowering Cornus. After tea and cake, we return to nearby Manningtree Railway Station to connect to the return train to London Liverpool Street or on to The Swan Hotel for those who need to collect cars.

Sophie Piebenga

Trained with the National Trust and qualified at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Whilst working as head gardener of a private estate, she developed a particular interest in the conservation of historic gardens. This eventually led to a doctoral study at the University of York, researching the work of the early Victorian landscape gardener, William Sawrey Gilpin. She has since worked freelance, mostly in the field of historic landscape conservation. Born in The Netherlands, now based in the Cotswolds, Sophie has lived most of her life in the UK. For the last 25 years, Sophie has regularly led tours for Boxwood to Ireland, France, Spain, The Netherlands and within the UK.

Stephen Anderton

Stephen is the long-standing garden writer for the Times, as well as a lecturer and author. Trained originally in Drama and then Landscape Design, he worked in historic gardens where, latterly as National Gardens Manager for English Heritage, he was responsible for several major restoration projects. Discovering Welsh Gardens was published in 2009; his official biography Christopher Lloyd, His Life at Great Dixter appeared in March 2010 and Lives of the Great Gardeners in 2018. He now lives in the Black Mountains where he is making a large woodland garden.

Your Accommodation

The Swan, Lavenham

★★★★

A 15th-century coaching inn in the heart of picturesque Lavenham, The Swan combines the historic charm of timber beams, leaded windows and mediaeval wall hangings with luxurious contemporary comfort. An innovative restaurant and bar offer delicious, seasonal British cuisine and an elegant spa, with sauna, steam room and vitality pool, is also open to guests.