Caroline Donald visits the garden at Kestle Barton Gallery, near Helford, Cornwall. Photographs by Mark Bolton.
Reached along a narrow country lane or via the footpath between Helford village and Frenchman’s Creek in the western reaches of Cornwall, the farmstead at Kestle Barton served its quiet purpose for at least 400 years until vacated in 2004 by the last farmer, who had grown up there. Were it not for Karen Townsend, who had a house nearby, the buildings would have been left to continue crumbling picturesquely into the ground; instead, they have been gently restored, revived and brought into the 21st century.
Miss Townsend worked closely with the local authority’s conservation team, which was as keen as she was that the integrity of the place wouldn’t be ruined by unsympathetic development and actively encouraged business use: one of the barns opened in 2010 as a gallery, with more of the buildings later converted into holiday cottages. The project won a RIBA award for architect Alison Bunning’s thoughtful, low-key conversion, which retained the lime plastering, scantle slate roofs and cob walls.
Bright-yellow rays of Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, with deep-pink Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firedance’ and the paler P. amplexicaulis ‘Rosea’. Kestle Barton, Cornwall, garden design by James Alexander-Sinclair. ©Mark Bolton Photography
Although she may have a good eye for design, Miss Townsend admits she is not knowledgeable about plants and had been havering about what to do with the walled yard outside the barn, known as a ‘mowhay’, where the hay was once stacked. She did know, however, that she wanted to avoid the Cornish cliché of semi-tropical plants.
‘That would have been really inappropriate,’ she says. Nor did she want big blowsy flowers:
‘It is a barn and the walk is directly into a meadow. You don’t want to be distracted too much.’
The ground was cleared of brash and prepared with lashings of fresh topsoil and well-rotted local manure before being planted with long-flowering perennials. Kestle Barton, Cornwall, garden design by James Alexander-Sinclair. Late summer/ autumn planting. ©Mark Bolton Photography
Her daughter Emma, at the time gardening editor of The Independent, introduced her to the designer James Alexander-Sinclair, whose then garden at Blackpitts, a converted barn in Northamptonshire, she had admired. He quickly understood what she was after and not a palm tree or mop-headed hydrangea appeared in his plans.
Nor did they want anything too formal: ‘When one finds something that still has a lot of horny-handed vernacular to it, one wants to keep it that way,’ says Mr Alexander-Sinclair, who has planted ornamental grasses and strong perennials in a rich tapestry of colour, creating hidden enclosures and opening out to grassy areas. ‘To put in box-edge beds and ‘Iceberg’ roses would have looked ridiculous. The place is shaggy around the edges, which is what makes it charming; it has not spent a lot of time putting on its mascara.’
The builders dealt with the basic structure, such as the terrace outside the gallery, paths and drainage; meanwhile, Mr Alexander-Sinclair had to manage deliveries of plants — or rather the lack of deliveries. ‘You are basically driving through a green tunnel to a dead end; there isn’t anywhere to go beyond that, apart from creeks and fields. There are passing places, but it is not an easy thing — the drivers soon realised they couldn’t get down the lane, so they had to change the size of the lorries.’ Despite the logistics, ‘it was a fun thing to do,’ although perhaps he should have consulted a map before he took on the job. ‘It was one of those crazy things when you think “Cornwall, it’s not that far away”. There was a ridiculous day when I drove to Kestle Barton, laid out all the plants and drove back again,’ a 500-mile round trip. ‘I was younger then.’
Kestle Barton, Cornwall: the award-winning gallery by Alison Bunning with white Persica polymorpha. ©Mark Bolton Photography
With the claggy, brashy ground improved with topsoil and ‘good Cornish muck’, the garden has evolved to be simple, but spectacular with big groups of a handful of varieties that are pretty self-sufficient. ‘We use things such as Persicaria polymorpha that are beefy and tough, but flower for a ridiculously long time.’
One might argue that Mr Alexander-Sinclair’s gorgeous palette of colour and muscular form, golden Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, the rich raspberry wands of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firedance’ and clouds of Verbena bonariensis, are the distraction Miss Townsend was hoping to avoid, but the way they are allowed freedom to bulk up and roam about is as much about keeping to the informal spirit of the place as it is about making sure it doesn’t create too much work.
There are quirky details, too, such as a hedge of Acca sellowiana, with its leathery silver leaves, passion fruit-like flowers and red fruits, and a ‘wildflower bank’, where the top of the Cornish-slate garden wall has been planted with foxgloves and poppies at eye height. Mr Alexander-Sinclair takes no credit, however, for the glories of the wildflower meadow that lies beyond the walled confines of the mowhay. ‘I think quite a lot of it was done by Nature and Karen aided it in its endeavour.’ There is also an orchard of old Cornish apple varieties.
The gallery is open from April to the end of October and, although Miss Townsend says the garden looks very pretty earlier in the season, kicking off with daffodils, it has been planted to look its most spectacular during the high days of the summer holidays, when most visitors come. Should the weather be disappointing — it is Cornwall, after all — ‘even when it is drizzly, it is still beautiful,’ says Mr Alexander-Sinclair.
Verbena bonariensis and Symphyotrichum ‘Little Carlow’ complement the stone barn at Kestle Barton. ©Mark Bolton Photography
These days, he returns with his family at a more leisurely pace to inspect the garden once a year in September — missing the ‘poker moment’ when the Kniphofia ‘Tawny King’ do their bit — but with the compensation of seeing the rest of the garden at the height of its seasonal glory. ‘From being a job, it has become a real pleasure and all my children like going there. It is such a gorgeous place: there’s the Helford river and the countryside with the modern art gallery in the middle, then you have this garden that is quite intense and colourful and zingy and fun. It is not a garden that is primped and perfect, but that is what people like. It is a nice place, a good place.’
For opening hours of Kestle Barton Gallery, Cornwall, visit www.kestlebarton.co.uk
Kestle Barton: Six of the highlights
Kniphofia ‘Tawny King’
- Height and spread: 3ft by 2ft
- Charms: everybody loves a bit of zing—it is as orange as a melting lollipop, with great leaves
Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’
- Height and spread: 2ft by 18in
- Charms: late-summer light always works well with strong yellows
Persicaria polymorpha
- Height and spread: 8ft by 3ft
- Charms: a massive plant that goes from zero to about 7ft every season. Flowers for a very long time
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’
- Height and spread: 5ft by 2ft
- Charms: beefy grass perfect for late summer through to winter
Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Bronzeschleier’
- Height and spread: 28in by 16in
- Charms: a more sophisticated version of the native tufted-hair grass. Evergreen with very airy flowers
Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpureum Group
- Height and spread: 6ft by 3ft
- Charms: makes its presence known. Strong grower, self-supporting and has good seedheads after flowering
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