Veddw .. Front Garden
Veddw Blooms, Doorway Through Hedge © Alice Joyce
Definition: Visionary – A person with unusual powers of foresight; utopian, chimeric, dreamer, enthusiast, escapist, exalted, idealistic, illusory, zealot.
Veddw Overview © Alice Joyce
Veddw House Garden has been written about and praised by such luminaries as Germaine Greer.
Veddw © Alice Joyce
Created by Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes, the contemporary setting at Veddw is compelling in ways that only the rare gardenscape can reach deep inside and grab at one’s soul, even as the mind is busily engaged in noting the garden’s bones, appreciating the artful plantings, and bold forms.
Veddw – Ruin in Background © Alice Joyce
Veddw grows up in the arcadian landscape of Monmouthshire in south east Wales, where my meeting with Anne and Charles was all too brief. Below: Garden Room with Sculpture ~ Alice Joyce Photo
Veddw Pleached Allee © Alice Joyce
Veddw Blue Bench © Alice Joyce
A sad fact of traveling: timing does not always play out as hoped for. And with too little time to wander about the garden – a place that deserves two or three lengthy visits to take in all the elements / the overall effect – I’ve struggled to write cogently about the experience of this rare contemporary garden. Moreover, an innovative work of art.
Veddw Border © Alice Joyce
Veddw Crescent Border..Birds © Alice Joyce
Having decided to wait no longer, I offer a photographic diary of my perambulations through the Gardens at Veddw House.
Do visit the web site: https://veddw.com
to find stimulating essays describing the garden, and view photographs by Charles Hawes.
Bronze foliage Rodgersia – Copyright Alice Joyce
Stephen Anderton and Charles Hawes have written a wonderful book that I highly recommend, a lushly photographed, provocatively written effort providing insight and guidance for an au courant journey through the gardening scene in Wales, be it from your armchair or in real time!
Discovering Welsh Gardens
Have visited several times in the past.
You have come up with some intriguing views.
You have also visited at a very different time of year from me.
I would be interested to see you write more of your impressions.
Best Wishes
Robert
beautiful artful pruning and shearing.
Thanks so much for this, Alice – and I’m sorry your visit was so short too. You should have been able to wander the garden on your own in peace, and then have had time with us as well for good talk.
Maybe you’ll get here again one day?
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Your photos present a very cogent view of this garden. You’ve done a great job with this post. But I find so many clipped hedges both severe & chaotic. I think the place would be more impressive with fewer of them. The waves above the pool are just right.
When I next see innovative use of plants and hedges, I’ll say “Veddy Veddw.” They are the gold standard. Thank you for this tour, Alice.
Hello Alice, I would love to visit there one day. Even though so much is tightly sculpted, the more organic shapes make it seem much softer than it might otherwise. Sorry to hear that your visit didn’t quite go to plan!
This is a lovely discovery, Alice. I didn’t know it existed, and have only been to Wales once in my life. This might take me back there. I have a friend who is a native Welsh speaker – I’ll ask her for a pronunciation lesson!
Wow, what an amazing garden. Certainly a work of art in the thoughtfulness and precision. I love the constant red and green foliage throughout. Very striking and used to great effect.
Love all those beautifully sculpted hedges! What a wounderfull place.
Amazing! This garden is a living, evolving work of art – thank you
Awesome and enchanting, haven’t seen anything of that proportion. For specifics, i love that bronze leaf.