Arne Maynard's garden at Allt-y-Bela

Topiary yews beside the rough, winding farm track signal your approach, but only at the very last minute, after you have emerged between the trees, does Arne Maynard spring the surprise of his house.
It is a memorably theatrical vision: a renaissance Welsh tower house boldly painted in the richest shade of rusty ochre I have ever seen, accompanied by clusters of trees pleached, spiralled and otherwise snipped into shape, and all set off by the vibrant green of the surrounding Monmouthshire hills.
It is also a striking contrast to his previous home in the flat Lincolnshire fenland, where Maynard, one of our leading garden designers and a Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist, had spent 10 years making an elaborate five-acre formal garden of orchards, box-edged flower borders, parterres and pavilions. I was astonished to hear, in 2006, that he was selling up and starting again. Read More