Rosemoor's outgoing curator looks back at 22 years
19 October 2010
Chris Bailes, the outgoing Curator at RHS Garden Rosemoor looks back on 22 years in the job.
I clearly remember arriving in Devon for my first day as Curator of Rosemoor in October 1988 - although at the time I had no idea that I’d still be there two decades later. It would also be true to say that as a rookie curator I’d only a partial perception of exactly what the job would entail: after all, it’s not every day that a new national garden is started largely from scratch.
From the very beginning the role was immensely varied and constantly challenging. On my first day I recall assisting with re-cladding a polythene tunnel and digging a dozen pits to assess soil conditions in the Formal Garden field. I was less than impressed with the yellowy-grey poorly structured soil I found – even less so after a few hours when each pit hosted its own pool of standing water: an early indication of the challenges we would face building a garden in a damp Devon valley.
There was no time for introspection; we had a garden to create and a master plan to implement. Rosemoor was blessed with a remarkable team, including Director Jeremy Rougier, with Elizabeth Banks as Landscape Architect, assisted by Tom Stuart Smith.
The early days involved more engineering than gardening: buildings, infrastructure, paths and land forming took priority. At the same time the garden team began to be assembled - David Squire and Peter Earl (now Team Leaders) arrived early, and built much of the garden before going on to cultivate it with success.
The first 12 years saw all the main elements of the master plan take shape throughout the estate. By 2000 we were able to celebrate its completion, although by then we had both more garden and more ideas about how we would take it forward. The garden had grown in more ways than one. In 1997 the acquisition of the forestry around the garden saw Rosemoor increase in area from 40 acres to 130 – which has given us a great opportunity to re-create a natural landscape to complement the garden. By that year also visitor numbers had broken through the 100,000 barrier, many drawn to revisit regularly by the excitement of a developing garden. That number has since grown to 140,000.
Although the excitement of the early years is past, Rosemoor is still a young garden; our arboretum plantings for example are still decades from maturity. We do not rest on our laurels and early projects such as the rose and colour theme gardens have been revisited in recent years, incorporating new design ideas and plants.
Gardening sustainably to encourage wildlife has led to the introduction of informal flowering meadows alongside tended beds and borders. From Lady Anne Berry’s original 8 acre plot a remarkably diverse garden has mushroomed, to interest and delight visitors of all ages. Creating a new garden here has been constantly engaging, challenging and fascinating, and a great privilege afforded to very few.
Chris Bailes leaves Rosemoor at the end of October. He is replaced by Jonathan Webster, who has been promoted from Garden Manager.