You don’t have to be an admirer of the Bloomsbury Group to appreciate the allure of Charleston Farmhouse, the literary circle’s outpost in East Sussex. On a late afternoon, its garden shimmers for us: Join for a tour.
The framework of the garden at Charleston (formal layout, unruly plantings) remains fresh and uncomplicated.
Vanessa Bell’s devotion to (mainly gray) circles, is evident in every room of the house and is reflected outside, in the round clumps of santolina that surround the central square-ish lawn.
In the opinion of the painter Duncan Grant, England suffers from being “too green.”
This santolina (or cotton lavender) grows hard and has its flower buds removed to keep it compact.
An Italian “piazza” was created at the bottom of the walled garden, to trap the afternoon sun.
An old farm pond is given the Italian effect with statuary.
A great deal of research went into the restoration of the garden, which involved studying the paintings of flowers by Vanessa, Duncan, and friends to discover what was growing in the garden.