This was the home of one of the last centuries greatest garden thinks and writers, centred on a property remodelled and extended by Edward Luytens for his parents this was the lifelong home of Christopher Lloyd. Though initially he inherited the garden from his parents it became the practical extension of Lloyds thought experiments in horticulture. Christopher Lloyd was a plantsman first and foremost and this is demonstrated by the gardens reliance on plants with little importance in its layout to hard landscaping. His parents were very much of the Arts and Craft movement but he took this forward creating a plant centred garden at odds with the “outdoors Room” style which tends to prevail with its heavy reliance on paving and gravel.
With his death in 2006 the house and gardens passed to a charitable trust, he never married or had children, and his head gardener is now responsible for the garden. The nursery he ran from the garden is still trading and there is a continuity so the gardens future financially seems very sound. The question has to be what happens to the garden in the longer term, during Christopher Lloyd’s life it was in a constant state of development as he tried out new ideas but with his death that driving force has gone so is it to remain preserved as a lasting monument and national-trustified or will some very brave individual take it on evolve it into a new form; something a trust could never do.