The Garden
Floriston was originally known as Rose Hall and in more recent years became a renowned herb garden called Calpepers. Over the years the garden lost its structure as the commercial side of the herb business took over. When we bought Floriston, Dominic was determined to take Floriston back to its original roots as a truly beautiful English garden with both structure and an abundance of indigenous flowers and shrubs.
Dominic was very much an amateur but fortunately was ably helped initially by his Mother, Anne Vail, who was an established garden designer and a local friend and talented garden designer, Deny Swete. They set out to return the structure to the garden introducing plants that had not been part of the garden thinking about season, colour and aroma.
Dominic wanted to move away from the classic purple and white that so dominates many gardens introducing a wider array of colours, textures and aromas. We were very lucky to be introduced to a hugely talented gardener, Simon Sheperd, who joined us and has led many of the changes that we have made. The Garden has evolved significantly over the past 20 years but like all Gardens, it is always a work in progress as we are constantly trying new plants, new breeds and new colours working closely with the Flower Farm. With the Flower Farm, our ambition is to be well-respected and original British growers constantly pushing the boundaries.
