The Arts and Crafts Garden

It may not be easy to spot or describe an Arts and Crafts garden at first, however, once you walk around in one, you can definitely feel it. It’s very different from any of the previous era’s garden designs.

Needless to say, that I absolutely love an Arts and Crafts garden, in fact I love anything Arts and Craft, be it a building, a painting or a wallpaper. But let’s see first what Arts and Crafts means.

The Arts and Crafts movement

The Arts and Crafts movement was a significant aesthetic movement in both decorative and fine arts. Emerging in mid-19th century Britain, it aimed to reform design and decoration, drawing inspiration from a pre-industrial era. This movement arose from the nostalgic desires of an increasingly urban society, yearning for a mythical rural past.

The Arts and Crafts garden design

By the 1870s the Victorian garden design fell from favour. One of the first gardeners who turned against the Victorian garden style was the Irish gardener and journalist William Robinson, who said “Nothing is prettier than an English cottage garden, and they often teach lessons that great gardens should learn.”

In 1870, Robinson released a groundbreaking book titled The Wild Garden, which introduced a revolutionary approach to gardening. By “wild’, he referred to a style characterised by permanent and informal planting. His subsequent publication, The English Flower Garden, released in 1883, became the best-selling gardening book of its time, going through 15 editions during Robinson’s lifetime.

Robinson advocated for:

• The removal of all architectural structures from the garden.
• Planting in naturally grouped arrangements that blend seamlessly.
• Mixing plant heights rather than arranging them in a graduated manner along the borders.

He even suggested incorporating ornamental grasses for winter interest, effectively being the first to promote the idea of placing “the right plant in the right place”. However, he did not suggest letting the garden run wild or eliminating garden features.

Leading artist of the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris agreed with Robinson’s dislike of the Victorian garden, however, Morris thought that the garden should not imitate the wildness of nature but should look rich and well fenced against the outside world.

Another designer who didn’t agree with Robinson’s suggestion of removing all architectural structures in the garden was the British architect Reginald Blomfield. He promoted a formal structure for gardens, particularly advocating formal terraces.

Characteristics of the Arts and Crafts garden

Cottage gardening

While the wealthy renovated manor houses (such as Great Chalfield and Lytes Cary) or built their own country retreats (like Cragside and Wightwick Manor), the middle class dreamt of a charming cottage garden. This aspiration was inspired by popular watercolour artists at the close of the 19th century, who illustrated the enchanting English cottage garden with vibrant borders of hollyhocks, lupins, roses, and honeysuckle, creating a idyllic and picturesque scene.

This picturesque portrayal of the cottage garden couldn’t be further from the truth. By the 1870s, Britain had become the world’s most industrialized country. However, the expansion of the Empire and global trade connections led to an influx of cheap grain from Canada, as well as meat from Australia and South America, which undermined the domestic market. This resulted in two decades of severe agricultural depression. Consequently, the so-called ideal cottage gardens had potatoes and other vegetables in their plots rather than a lavish display of flowers.

Garden rooms

The Arts and Crafts movement significantly shaped garden design, frequently incorporating the concept of garden ‘rooms’ to extend the home into the outdoors.

The garden takes visitors on a captivating journey through intimate formal spaces revealing a different atmosphere or new vista at every turn. Smaller, more formal garden ‘rooms’ near the house, give way to more natural areas that blend in with the surrounding countryside further away.

Topiary

Topiary was introduced to Britain by the Romans, and it has rarely been absent from the English garden.
However, the topiary was an essential feature in the Arts & Crafts garden, creating living green walls that divided the space. It introduced a variety of intricate shapes and whimsical creatures, including hens, peacocks, and more.

Natural elements

Arts and Crafts gardens embrace the use of natural, often locally sourced materials along with traditional craftsmanship. This could be a bench or steps in the garden built of local stone, or pergolas and summer houses.

Woodland gardens

The Arts and Crafts garden didn’t only feature different garden rooms, formal planting beds and natural element like ponds, but also woodland. The idea was to combine these creating in a harmonious and natural way.

The Japanese garden

When, after two centuries of isolation, Japan opened up to foreigners in 1853, the West could not get enough of it. Kimonos came into fashion and no drawing room was complete without an Imari teapot. The first Japanese gardens appeared in the 1890s. The enthusiasm for Japanese culture reached its peak during the Japan-British exhibition in 1910.

Arts and Crafts garden designers

Gertrude Jekyll was one of the first women in Britain to train as an art student. When her eyesight started to fail, she turned to gardening. She believed the garden should melt in with the surrounding countryside. She also used her colour theory (harmony and contrast of colour), texture and form.

In the past, borders were arranged solely based on plant heights with little consideration for colour combinations, resulting in a disjointed effect, like a patchwork of small pieces scattered about. Jekyll suggested planting in large, flowing drifts, allowing colors to blend harmoniously. She emphasised the importance of arranging plants to follow each other in blooming seasons’ ensuring that the border would evolve beautifully throughout the year.

Jekyll designed or planned the layout for approximately four hundred gardens. While over half of these were directly commissioned, many were developed in partnership with the architects Sir Edwin Lutyens who was a great friend of hers.

Harold Ainsworth Peto dedicated many years to the Italian Riviera, drawing inspiration from the Italian Renaissance. His remarkable talent lay in blending the architectural elements of the formal Renaissance garden—such as terraces, colonnades, statuary, and fountains—into the more gentle landscapes of Britain. While Barry and Mawson’s interpretation of Italian design felt heavy and grand, Peto’s approach exuded lightness and elegance; even beneath the grey English skies, he managed to evoke the sunny essence of the Renaissance garden.

Arts and Crafts gardens in England

Buscot Park
Coleton Fishacre
Goddards
Great Dixter House and Gardens
Hidcote Manor Garden
Iford Manor
Lytes Cary Manor
Mount Grace
Rodmarton Manor
Standen House and Garden
Wollerton Old Hall Garden

Arts and Crafts gardens have a very special ambience and because they have many different garden rooms, it’s always exciting to explore them. When you visit England, dedicate a couple of hours to visit one. You will love it and it won’t disappoint.