The gardens surround the Manor House, which was mainly built in the sixteenth century but still has a medieval wing. We were guided by Dave, who has been Head Gardener at Cadhay since 2002 and is due to retire shortly. He only has the help of one other gardener for four days a week.
We were taken first to the 2 acre walled garden, which contains cutting flower beds for the house and fruit trees, including damsons and plums, which already looked ripe. The area also has a number of extremely neat allotments which are tended by locals, plus a large London plane tree, a hornbeam and a lime. The borders throughout the garden are a succession of colour from the end of May to the beginning of September. Next stop was the lake on whose banks are planted rhododendrons, which we were told are a magnificent sight in May, being reflected in the water. In Spring there is also a fine show of daffodils. The lake attracts kingfishers and herons and is covered in water lilies which help keep down the blanket weed. Around the lake was another holm oak, an old medlar and Cornus shrubs. Further on, there was an area of mostly purple and white flowers - lavender plants which attract the bumble bees, a large buddleia which the honeybees and butterflies seem to favour and some Veronicastrum with large white spires of flowers which the butterflies especially enjoy. This area also contained some bamboo Steepa gigantissima. A stumpery was an interesting addition, and some stumps had sedum growing on the top. There is a very tall tulip tree, a croquet lawn and then the main 120-foot-long border appeared as we neared the
house. It is a very colourful mix of dahlias, cosmos, lilies, snapdragons, goldenrod, fuchsia, heuchera, hollyhocks, and lavatera to name but a few.
These colourful borders continue under the house windows. On the walls of the oldest part of the house is a large wisteria and a Magnolia
grandiflora. There is also a myrtle with fragrant white flowers which Dave says ladies liked to use to perfume themselves before the days of
deodorants. Dave ended the tour by leaving us in a small sunny and sheltered area with a bench to sit on and listen to the relaxing sound of a fountain playing in a small oblong pool.
We had a very pleasant visit to Cadhay in the company of Dave who was a witty host and informative guide. His pride in the gardens which he had created in his 20 years at Cadhay was obvious and we shall not forget his words of wisdom (in a Devon accent): “If you can’t grow a weed, you can’t grow nothing”. It was something to ponder on as we ate our excellent cream tea!