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I dreamtI dwelt ...Pat Ashworth visits the garden atFanshawe Gate Hall

John and Cynthia Ramsden The Hall driveway Yew topiary and rambling roses on the Hall terraceCottage garden favouritessurround the front doorAll photography by Mark Ramsden © Grafika LtdNo-one could more ardently have fulfilled thestewardship role for old buildings, describedby William Morris as ‘not in any senseour property, to do as we like with them.We are only trustees for those that come after us.’Cynthia and John Ramsden are not Fanshawes but theyhave made the Tudor-inspired garden of Fanshawe GateHall one of the most visited private gardens in Derbyshire.The work they have done and the welcome they offer isacknowledged to be so extraordinary that earlier this yearthey received the Exceptional Service award from theNational Gardens Scheme (NGS). The couple, who haveopened the garden for the past 15 years, are credited withepitomising the heart of the charity, ‘bringing so muchenjoyment to thousands of visitors over the years and raisingmoney for such worthwhile causes.’It is the most tranquil garden imaginable, imbued withsomething of the glory of God and a place of recovery fromthe oesophageal cancer which struck Cynthia 11 years ago.Her beautifully illustrated coffee table book, A Garden in MyLife, published in 2001 for Macmillan Cancer Support, doesnot dwell on that period of her life but in her own words is‘an account of one woman’s pleasure in creating her garden.’Her continuing delight in it is evident in every blade ofgrass, every flower bed, every newly planted seedling.The couple are celebrating 50 years at Fanshawe Gate,which dates back to 1260. They met at Dronfield GrammarSchool, founded in 1579 under the will of Henry Fanshaweand now bearing his name, and when they married, built ahouse in Ecclesall. They had been there seven years, hadstarted what became a family of five children, and had nointention of moving – until they saw the Hall advertised inthe Saturday property section of the local paper and ‘justhad to have it.’The first 12 years saw the start of restoration on a houseand cottage which were largely 16th century but wherethe remains of a mediaeval dwelling were still in evidence.The Ramsdens are only the fourth owners of what becamea tenanted farm, sold by the Fanshawe family in 1944.The present head of the family, Simon Fanshawe, visitstwice a year, and the school now possesses the beautifullyThe new wildlife pond and orchard with box topiary,lavender and the Hall in the background.

‘We took 40 years to restore FanshaweGate – we were very much finding ourfeet and it would have been foolish toemploy a professional landscapearchitect and do it all at once...’Cynthia in her potting shedis between the first two levels of this five-level garden. It isunique in having three storeys, the uppermost still inhabitedby white fantailed doves. The original inch-thick Elizabethanglass remains in its tiny window and the Ramsdens have dugup other pieces of mediaeval glass on the site – includingone particularly large fragment that was subsequentlydropped by a small grandchild. No recriminations followed:grandchildren are cherished here and trees planted tocommemorate each birth.When the Ramsdens arrived 50 years ago, the wholeof this second level of the garden was populated by laurels,which Derbyshire farmers used to plant for pecking hensto scratch beneath. Cynthia outed these in favour ofrhododendrons, which proved ‘fine in spring butuninteresting for the rest of the year.’ So John terraced thebank to allow shrubs to be planted and a flow of colour tocontinue down each terrace. Shade-loving plants occupy aAbove: The Elizabethan gate pillars and entrance planted withNepeta, Agapanthus, ‘Happy Child’ and ‘Golden Shower’ roses.Left: Trimming the cottage knot garden with the herb border andthe dovecote in the background.Below: The medieval dovecote with inner gate pillars, yew topiaryand ‘north facing’ border planted with ferns, hostas and poppies.illuminated family tree discovered by a Leeds solicitor andpresented to it by John Ramsden, who was then its chairmanof governors.Of both house and garden, John says, ‘We took 40 yearsto restore Fanshawe Gate – we were very much finding ourfeet and it would have been foolish to employ a professionallandscape architect and do it all at once, even if we’d beenable to. We would certainly have regretted it.’Visitors begin their tour in the lower courtyard of thesteeply terraced property, in front of the cottage that wasused as a stable and storage building in Victorian timesand which the Ramsdens extended to accommodate theirgrowing family, Nicola, Louise, Mark, James and Anna.The courtyard itself evolved with different phases of familylife and was gravelled over as parking space when theteenagers acquired cars. When they left home, Cynthia wasable to plant the Elizabethan knot garden that so eloquentlyreflects the age of the present house.A herb garden by the cottage wall reflects it too, as doesthe tithe barn in view, surrounded by strutting chickens anddating from around 1536. The grassy banks that line thecourtyard are steep, with relics of farming history in theshape of staddles, mushroom-shaped stones which were thefoundation for corn ricks. ‘Someone found us an oldpostcard from the turn of the century, and the whole of thisarea was haystacks,’ Cynthia says. Snowdrops planted 20years ago from a neighbour’s garden proliferate here inspring and she marvels, ‘There was just a circle round eachtree. Look how they’ve spread.’The medieval dovecote commands attention, poised as itJohn’s new vegetable garden…radish harvestingFountain shaped topiary with glass teardrops to the front of the Hall‘Lion Head’ waterfall in the courtyard

What was once a sloping field is now abeautiful formal orchard... a natural dipin the land lent itself to a pond, fed froma well across a nearby fieldWildlife pond fed by a natural spring with an out-flowfeeding the ancient well by the outer gate pillars.Pleached hornbeam above the orchardborder in front of a woodland area of old lime trees, wherean unusual summerhouse draws the eye.The shape and timbers make it look quite un-English inmany ways. It had a thatched roof in Cynthia’s grandfather’sday, when it stood in his garden for tea parties and for thechildren to play house in. Cynthia’s passion for gardeningcomes from her grandfather, so she was thrilled when thespinster aunt who remained in the house after his deathsuggested she might like to have it.It was just the start of the unravelling of a piece ofhistory that became more intriguing with each revelation.Grandfather had bought the summerhouse at an agriculturalshow in 1934 and the family had always assumed it to benew. But when Cynthia and John’s son, Mark, spotted asimilar summerhouse at the Chelsea Flower Show and hada conversation about it, the discovery was made that theRamsdens’ summerhouse was in fact made at the turnof the last century by Henry & Julius Caesar of Knutsford.The buildings were produced for King Edward VII,who presented them as a thank-you present to hostesses whohad pleased him at weekend house parties. ‘Can you imaginethe gentry going round each others’ houses to see who hadgot one?’ Cynthia speculates in delight.Planted bronze foliaged Lysimachia in solid blocks atintervals breaks up the variegated border by the wall. Theflourishing magnolia tree in this part of the garden is 25years old, and space has run out for the commemorative OldEnglish fruit trees for the grandchildren – mulberry, walnutand medlar for the first three girls and fig trees for the firsttwo boys. The last four grandchildren have trees in theorchard instead.You can peer down through a grille to marvel at the deepshaft of the original well, the only water supply when thefamily came here 50 years ago. It was piped to the houseand ‘made a wonderful cup of tea,’ Cynthia remembers.The Fanshawe coat of arms has been put on a set ofimposing gates, with the family’s permission and to theirgreat pleasure. They open on to a delightful gravel walk,which Cynthia admits has been ‘all kinds of things. It wasfull of those big show dahlias when we bought it.‘I didn’t like them – they irked me, they didn’t go withthe property at all. I put in any old roses and then I decidedon a colour scheme,’ she says. ‘This is blue and gold:golden standards, blue clematis between the climbing roses... And alchemilla mollis – gorgeous, but gets everywhere –blue catmint in the front and agapanthus in between...’Her gentle enthusiasm is unbounded.The topiary in this part of the garden is very much inkeeping with the age of the property. Mark, their eldest sondesigned and made the water feature that cascades down ahigh wall in summer, to celebrate the marriage, 16 years agoof his youngest sister, Anna. ‘We are a great family forcommemorating things, and this is all his own work. It hasweathered beautifully and is very pretty in action,’ Cynthiaobserves. Clumps of poppies have self-seeded among aborder of ferns and hostas by the house, and have beenretained for their splash of colour.The borders in front of the house are historic, containingplants known to have been grown in this country in the1600s. Convolvulus had invaded one and the whole borderwas to be removed, ‘starting at 8am on Monday morning.’To mark their 50 years, John and Cynthia will create a newborder here, by a fountain known affectionately as ‘Cynth’spissing nymph’.What was once a sloping field is now a beautiful formalorchard, planted with Old English varieties of apples, pears,plums and damsons and neatly edged with box andlavender. A hornbeam hedge, a very Tudor concept, was putin two years ago, and a natural dip in the land lent itself to awildlife pond, fed from a well across the nearby field. Theoverflow runs out of the pond and under the drive into theoriginal well in the garden. ‘When this is mature, inOld English top fruit varieties in the new orchard

summer, it’s lovely. That bank in particular encouragesmoisture-loving plants,’ Cynthia says. ‘We get frogs in here,and the grandchildren insist on putting up signs saying,“Please do not tread on the baby frogs”.’Another 50-year commemoration, again being designedand built by Mark their son will be an oak pergola intoJohn’s vegetable garden, around which roses and vines willgrow. His garden has raised beds – ‘He insisted on them,’Cynthia says with a smile – and the pièce de résistance of hisdomain is the garden shed which the family call his Chapelof Rest. It is insulated with pine panelling from the localcricket pavilion; it has pale green gingham curtains (despitehis protests), and it houses his gardening books, kettle,coffee maker, radio and heater.A piece of stained glass incorporated into the windowhas come from a window which was the couple’s weddingpresent to each other, designed by their art teacher at schoolfor their Ecclesall house. The present owners were doingalterations and asked them if they would like the glass,which has the school’s Fanshawe crest in it. They loved theidea but couldn’t think where to put it until Mark had thetop of the shed window taken out and the stained glassborder put in as a surprise.From the vantage point of the vegetable garden,Dore and Totley come into surprise view in the valleybelow, ringed with hills. It’s a reminder how near the houseis to Sheffield and yet how remote it seems when youlook across the rural landscape in all other directions.The family had years of ferrying the children to schoolfrom here, the girls to Sheffield High School and the boysto Lady Manners School, Bakewell, but they wouldn’thave had it any differently.And if there’s one thing that perfectly sums up their joyin the garden and the artistry that Cynthia has put intocreating it, it is the glass tear drops suspended from afountain-shaped piece of topiary by the house. They camefrom a broken chandelier the couple were given, augmentedby a wooden box of chandelier pieces they picked up byThe garden at FanshaweGate Hall is open underthe National GardenScheme on Sundays 21st,28th June and 5th, 12thJuly and for the local airambulance on 19th July,open times are 11am to5pm. Private group visitsare also welcome byappointment duringJune and July.Cynthia’s new book‘Garden Tales’ willbe available inSeptember 2009.Cynthia Ramsden receiving herNGS award from Joe SwiftFor more information visit www.fgh.org.ukTel: 0114 289 0391chance in a curiosity shop in Suffolk.‘They’re supposed to be like big drops of water, but Icouldn’t get the fronds to come down,’ Cynthia says, viewingit critically. ‘I tried lead weights and everything, but it needsre-wiring.’ She touches one of the droplets and reflects,‘When the sun shines through, it looks like drops of waterforming. In winter, when snow is on the topiary, it looks likeicicles.’ Cynthia is writing another fundraising book, due outin September, called ‘Garden Tales’. The book goes behindthe scenes at Fanshawe Gate Hall, as designers, builders,gardeners, artists, volunteers and visitors talk about theirown lives, and what brings them back, year after year, tothis enchanting spot on the edge of the Peak DistrictNational Park. It should be an inspiration.Main lawn with terrace and greenhouse in the distance.