A Short Break in Devon – A Walk on the Wildside

Our short break in Devon in mid-June presented us the chance of visiting a garden I had wanted to visit since it was first open, Wildside, the creation of the well-known horticulturalist Keith Wiley. Keith was originally head gardener of the nearby Garden House, a garden we really liked when we visited several years ago.

Keith moved to a flat site on which he and his wife would develop a garden and build a house. Sadly his wife died before the garden was completed, but Keith carried on with their plans. The key to his design ideas was to shape the land into hills and valleys, which created more habitats for planting.

Even on the short walk walk from the carpark to the garden entrance we found these stunning hydrangeas in flower.

Keith’s first purchase had been a small JCB style digger which allowed him to shape the land and start planting trees and shrubs. Gravel pathways meandered throughout the landscaped areas enabling us to see so much of his planting close up.

We arrived in torrential rain which just refused to stop or even give over a little, so it was no surprised that we were the only visitors. But this did mean that we were greeted by Keith himself. He gave us a lot of his time, telling us about how he had developed the garden and advised us on the best routes to take to enjoy what was currently looking at its best. The planting was on different layers with herbaceous plants looking colourful beneath shrubs and small trees.

We returned to the the garden entrance before exploring the opposite side of the garden following more instructions from Keith who suggested areas that we just had to see. Several parts of the garden on this side were planted to remind him of his travels.

The furthest parts of the garden illustrated just how serious some of the earthmoving exploits were.

As we were wandering around these parts of the landscape the winds increased and the rain became even stronger so we returned to the garden entrance and made our way back to the car. At the garden entrance we admired flower arrangements using materials from the garden.