Synopsis
Since 2009 Debbie and her partner Peter have lived at Little Cliff, a 1930s former chauffeur's residence with an acre of steeply sloping garden and spectacular views across Lyme Bay. Since then she has worked hard to blend the traditional English garden style found in gardens like Sissinghurst in Kent, with a coastal garden look using exotics and tender plants to capitalise on the site's frost free location. Regular visits to Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens along the coast near Weymouth provided lots of inspiration as well as a source of unusual plants, as did Desert to Jungle, a nursery specialising in large leaved exotics just outside Taunton. A sequence of distinctive garden rooms steps down the hillside, linked by exuberant planting and ever present glimpses of the sea. Immediately behind the house borders are a mix of exuberant herbaceous perennials flowering in purple, blues and pinks including agapanthus, salvias and eryngiums, swirling around clipped evergreens including box, bay and lime green conifers. 'I've always loved topiary and would have it in any garden of mine. It's especially great for winter structure.' On the east side of the garden is Debbie's studio, a small timber building on stilts with a little balcony set with table and chairs.
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