Garden Style File: Arne Maynard
Arne Maynard established his eponymous garden design firm in 1986, and now works between a studio in Bath and his own late Medieval home and garden Allt-y-bela in Monmouthshire, on commissions that span the globe.
Growing up in Dorset, the gardens of Cranborne Manor were an early influence on Maynard. “The garden blew me away,” he once told this magazine. “It was full of old-fashioned roses and dianthus and neat borders, very tastefully done.” The young Maynard would cycle over to the country house during the school holidays to work in the nursery on the estate. Sometimes I’d see Lady Salisbury working in the garden wearing her pearls.”
Roses would remain a particular self-confessed favourite flower of Maynard’s, and can often be seen in his designs, at least where appropriate. Other typical elements to be found in an Arne Maynard garden include topiary, fruit trees and wildflowers. Maynard is dedicated to the idea that every garden should incorporate a productive section, be that an area to grow fruit and vegetables, an orchard, a kitchen garden or anything else.
Maynard began his career by studying to be an architect, and although he never finished his course, there are still recognisably architectural elements to his garden design. In his own words, context is key; he notes that “to succeed, a garden must relate and respond to its surrounding landscape, its history and to the buildings within and around its confines, as well as to the needs of its owners. Bold lines and a strong architectural framework are characteristic, and hedges and walls are used to divide the gardens into separate areas and to give year-round presence and a sense of permanence.”
1/13In his first ever garden, at Guanock House in Lincolnshire, Maynard was confronted with a house that stood starkly on its own, “an island in a sea of wheat and barley, in the flats of the Fens”. Guanock made for the ideal place for Maynard to try out some of his formative ideas about garden design; inspired by 17th-century Dutch-style gardens, with their interconnected “rooms” and complex, repeated divisions. Maynard enclosed the space, sheltering it from the Lincolnshire wind, and planted knot gardens, wide herbaceous borders, topiary sentinels, a beautiful kitchen garden, wildflower meadows, and an orchard.
Andrew Montgomery2/13At Allt-y-bela, his own house in Monmouthshire, Maynard’s garden is in keeping with the picturesque surroundings, laid out in a bowl-shaped valley surrounded by steep-sided pasture. He’s been working on it for around a decade and a half; intimate and romantic, touches of elegance offset a wilder feel. While Guanock was formal and defined, Allt-y-bela is less restrained.
Clipped yew, hornbeam and beech are arranged loosely near the house to counterbalance the layered meadow planting further away, while criss-cross patterns of box and a row of pleached ‘Evereste’ crab apples – the dark orange fruits of which bear a pleasing resemblance to the colour of the house's exterior – are the only other nods to formality in the garden.
Andrew Montgomery3/13
4/13A stream winds through the centre of Maynard’s garden, and an outdoor theatre in the garden follows the same curves of the water.
5/13Roses are a long-term favourite of Maynard’s; in his garden at Allt-y-bela, he’s planted Rosa ‘Sir Paul Smith’.
Eva Nemeth6/13Maynard was commissioned to work on this Oxfordshire garden in 2000, and is still developing it with its owners twenty years later. Arne’s plan combines traditional and contemporary aspects, incorporating existing walls and old hedges, but also introducing fresh elements such as a kitchen garden.
Eva Nemeth7/13Tulips ‘Pink Diamond’ and ‘Pretty Love’ grow in wide beds to the side of the house, with a mature weeping willow beyond.
Eva Nemeth8/13In what is known as the ‘secret garden’, Arne designed a cutting garden with a simple grid layout, which lends itself to tulips (such as purple ‘Backpacker’ and maroon ‘Havran’) and other spring bulbs. After flowering, they are lifted to create room for annuals.
Eva Nemeth9/13Gnarled apple trees in the kitchen garden were under-planted with Pulmonaria saccherata ‘Smokey Blue’.
Eva Nemeth10/13In the gardens at South Wood Farm in Devon’s Blackdown Hills, an inviting mown grassy path meanders down a landscaped bank towards the walled courtyard in front of the house. In early spring, the meadow grass is studded with yellow cowslips and the nodding purple chequered flowers of snake’s head fritillaries, to be replaced by blue camassias later in the season. Maynard first started working on the garden at South Wood Farm 13 years ago.
Eva Nemeth11/13In the front courtyard, tulips cluster in the herbaceous borders in spring, with the double magenta ‘Chato’ contrasting with pale pink ‘Angelique’ and white ‘Spring Green’.
Eva Nemeth12/13A parterre of clipped osmanthus and yew has recently been planted above the cobbled rear courtyard, where more yew topiary and an early-flowering amelanchier give the area a simple intimacy.
Eva Nemeth13/13The attractive kitchen garden – an Arne Maynard staple – is as ornamental as it is productive, with stepover apple and pear trees edging the beds, which are softened with clouds of purple honesty in early spring. Backed by a tall, billowing holly hedge cut into undulating shapes, the three-quarter-span greenhouse is used for raising seedlings and housing tomatoes and other tender plants. Arne designed the oak raised beds and elegant oak-framed fruit cages, as well as some of the furniture dotted round the garden, all of which was made in the joinery workshop at Haddon Hall in the Peak District.
