Greencombe Gardens

About the garden

Owned by

Robert Schmidt

An organic woodland garden, Greencombe extends along a sheltered hillside, below the tree-covered slopes of Exmoor and offers outstanding views over ancient fields onto Porlock Bay and the sea beyond. Moss-covered paths meander through an impressive collection of ornamental plants that flourish beneath a canopy of oaks, hollies, conifers and sweet chestnuts. Camellias, magnolias, rhododendrons, azaleas, lilies and hydrangeas flower among rare ferns while roses, clematis and other climbers wend their way upwards through an understorey which includes a rich collection of maples.

Greencombe is a post-war garden, laid out in 1946 on a north-facing hill. For 50 years, Joan Loraine developed a collection of exceptional plants employing methods that she termed ‘intrinsic gardening’. Building on established organic methods and shunning chemical sprays, she produced all her own compost and spread copious amounts of leafmould, resulting in fertile soil and a riot of birds and butterflies all around. While most of the plants have been carefully placed in their present positions, the garden gives the impression that it just occurred and that paths wander around plants that already existed.

On display throughout the garden are the four National Plant Collections: Erythronium, small mountain lilies; Vaccinium, 'whortleberries worldwide'; Gaultheria, 'whortleberries for bears' and Polystichum, the 'thumbs-up' fern. Also, of special interest, the garden is home to a champion English holly tree (Ilex aquifolium), one of the largest and oldest in the British Isles. Greencombe is full of rare and wonderful plants and has much to interest and delight every visitor.