What could be luckier than having a cousin with a 500-year-old, award-winning bed-and-breakfast in Wales?
If you're Anne Clark-Stewart, an active member of a local horticultural society, the family connection likely helped convince one of Britain's newest horticultural stars, Graham Rankin, to stage a Canadian tour on the restoration of Aberglasney, including nine spectacular gardens in central Wales that were developed during the Elizabethan era.
Although Rankin is not known to many North American gardeners, he's a horticultural force in England and the energy behind the restoration of Aberglasney and its historic gardens. The structures date back to at least the 16th century, with much of the essential garden design undertaken during the Elizabethan age.
Aberglasney prospered for more than 300 years and then was tragically neglected for much of the 20th century. In 1907, the property was abandoned by its widowed owner and the only residents during the Second World War were troops. In 1955, the property was split up, sold and remained essentially uninhabited. It was sold again in 1977, followed by further decay, vandalism and theft.
In 1995, the mansion's portico was illegally removed and offered up for sale by a venerable auction house. That was the turning point, prompting supporters and an American benefactor to rally, funding the Aberglasney Restoration Trust to purchase the entire property.
This was the start of a wonderful renewal and the grounds buzzed with the sounds of digging, levelling, excavating and rebuilding until 1999. Around this time, the BBC featured the property in a televised series called, Aberglasney: A Garden Lost in Time, which struck a nerve, generating nationwide interest.
The BBC program followed the magical excavation process and a second episode highlighted the disagreement over the origins of the cloister garden. Was it a retreat for the gentry or simply a cow enclosure?
In the months leading to the 1999 opening, Rankin was recruited to the project, largely based on the recommendation of the renowned U.S. horticulturist Frank Cabot. Cabot is known for his garden, Stonecrop, in Cold Spring, New York, and a second garden in Quebec: Les Quatres Vents.
Cabot knew Rankin had the tenacity and drive, not to mention the plant know-how, to tackle this huge, long-term project. With horticultural training that included seven years at Windsor Castle's Great Park where he developed a love for magnolias and then worked on restoration projects, including a Surrey garden, Rankin was signed on as Aberglasney's first director of operations.
Clark-Stewart was an early visitor to Aberglasney in 1999, a time when it was still more an architectural ruin than a horticultural tour-de-force. As a matter of fact, many early visitors to the site wanted their money back because the property was still very much a work in progress, remembers Rankin.
A decade later, the grounds and house are dynamic, with nine strikingly different gardens bursting with plantings.
In celebration of the 10th anniversary, Rankin has written The Flowering of Aberglasney. It describes the development of the gardens and structures -- from the two formal walled gardens, an ancient cloister garden that is bounded by a unique parapet walk, to a pool and stream garden, an exotic Ninfarium, a yew walk and several wooded areas.
Aberglasney is a joy to see in person, but Rankin's words and photographs are spectacular.
-- Canwest News Service
