Rooms with much more than a view at Whatley (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Rooms with much more than a view at Whatley

THE gardens of Whatley Manor hotel, near Malmesbury, have been a huge challenge for head gardener Barry Holman and his team.

When the Whatley Manor project was presented to him in January 2001, Barry was immediately excited about restoring the gardens that had been neglected for 20 years.

His work was complicated by the construction and restoration of the hotel taking place at the same time. He said: "It was a bit of a nightmare but we got there in the end. You are watching the weather, ordering the plants and looking after the soil. While you are doing that you plan six months in advance and you think oh my God, what am I doing?'."

The initial challenge was working around constructors to plan and work out planting schemes. Barry , and his team sourced large trees and mature hedges from the famous Dutch nursery Van Der Berk in Eindhoven to ensure guests could enjoy a mature garden when the hotel opened last July.

Barry said: "A garden is a living growing thing, a lot of our garden is fairly new but we do have some maturity with a 200-year-old olive tree in the courtyard."

Beginning with a green canvas of lawns he designed the gardens based on the 1920s plans.

For three-and-a-half years Barry and his team diligently toiled away, draining the entire garden, installing a watering system, dredging the silted up area of the Sherston Avon River and planting more than 7,000 wildflowers in a meadow.

This is one of Barry's favourite areas and the nectar- rich plants have already encouraged butterflies and bees to visit the garden throughout the season.

The fruition of Barry's work means that the gardens are divided up into 26 distinct rooms that offer guests seclusion and comfort.

The gardener said: "When you look out of the window you get 26 different feelings and ideas. There are Regalia lilies, and the garden is highly scented. It helps people to relax."

Each room has a strong theme whether based on colour, scent or style. In the hot room' the eyes are attracted to the fiery red and orange colours of the flowers. One example is called a Tetbury Torch, For Barry the success of the garden has been a personal triumph and shows how far he has come since he began following his dad around the garden with a wheelbarrow as a child.

Shunned at school for being dyslexic, he remembers how one teacher queried who would ever employ him. But now there is no question that he has made a huge success of his life and the Whatley Manor project.