The term ‘beer garden’ conjures up many images, but rarely does horticultural excellence spring to mind. Designer Tabitha Rigden of Marlow-based Rigden Studio might just change that perception with her enticing new and award-winning garden for The Plough Shiplake near Henley-on-Thames.
The project came about as part of an initiative to save a much-loved community pub from developers. “The brief was very practical,” says Tabitha, “asking for a layout that functioned well for visitors and staff alike, with a long season of planting interest, so I was able to bring in my own creative ideas.”
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The new owners sensibly moved the pub’s entrance from the main road to a quieter side road, swapping the pub garden with the car park, placing the garden on a new, more elevated site with better views across the surrounding countryside. Now customers walk from the new car park – with a richly planted retaining bank – to the pub along a path bounded by woodland-edge plants.
The idea was to create a sensory journey to use the sunny aspect in this area to evoke a dry Mediterranean bank
In brief: a beer garden in Henley-on-Thames
- What Country pub garden.
- Where Oxfordshire.
- Size Around 640 square metres.
- Soil Poor and slightly alkaline, improved where necessary with topsoil.
- Climate Temperate but exposed due to the hillside location.
- Hardiness zone USDA 8b.
From the bar they reach the garden via a limestone-stepped, scented walkway. Here, generously sized beds of gravel planting feature grasses such as Stipa gigantea and Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea ‘Transparent’, which bring a sense of movement alongside Mediterranean-style perennials including Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ and Salvia ‘Blue Spire’.
“The idea was to create a sensory journey, separate from the main garden, to use the lay of the land and sunny aspect in this area to evoke a dry Mediterranean bank,” says Tabitha.
The feeling of warmth extends into the planting scheme, with flaxen grasses and russet tones
Mindful of how the garden will be used, Tabitha has focused on summer season planting, and has chosen robust and resilient plants, as well as species, such as Euphorbia x martini, which will quickly bulk up the beds, while grasses such as Deschampsia cespitosa and Sesleria autumnalis have filled out in the meantime. “There are so many additional elements to consider when designing a pub garden,” she explains. “The project provided an exciting opportunity to create something to be enjoyed by so many people.”
Tabitha’s top tips for creating seclusion
• In a large, open space, use island-style beds to create partitions. They’re more sustainable, in terms of carbon footprint, than building walls, and more beneficial to wildlife.
• Use underplanted multi-stem trees for mass, definition and sculptural form. I tend to bring in semi-mature specimens for instant impact and to create the part-shade conditions for the planting scheme around them. These also serve to help cool an area in summer and, to an extent, act as a sun shield.
• Clipped yew hedging provides an evergreen screen and shelter from the wind. It also serves as a backdrop against which the planting will stand out.
• Create a combination of clump-forming ornamental grasses such as Stipa gigantea and Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, which work well for semi-translucent screening.
• Choose furniture that continues the theme of translucency. The cut-out patterns in the metal chairs here make them less imposing, helping them to blend with the planting.
Useful information:
Find out more about Rigden Studio’s work at rigdenstudio.co.uk and more about The Plough at theploughshiplake.co.uk