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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
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