Weirs Barn Garden Tour

We are so lucky this year to have been invited to tour the garden of great supporters of teamArchie, Terence and Jane Lyons.

Weirs Barn was designed by the Scottish Arts & Crafts architect Robert Weir Schultz and laid out in the first years of the 20th century. Bounded and defined by 120 year old topiary, it features a sunken garden, hoop walk, nuttery, green walk and collections of iris and peonies.

Schultz probably first came to Hampshire in 1898 to lay out a formal garden at nearby West Green House and, having purchased the barn and land in 1899, remained there until his death at the age of 90 in 1951. As a member of the Art Workers’ Guild it was Schultz’s passion and even duty to design the whole environment in which he lived - so evident in the way the garden and house flow into and around one another.

There is no surviving plan of the garden but it seems likely that Schultz’s friend Gertrude Jekyll was more than just an influence on the design. He and Jekyll worked together on Tylney Hall, 5 miles away, from 1901-1905 and the garden she designed in 1908 for Charles Holme’s Manor House at Upton Grey features all the same elements.

Terence and Jane bought Weirs Barn in 1986 from Schultz’s cousin Patricia Keith. Sadly the garden had become completely overgrown but Miss Keith had maintained the topiary and hedges and with them most of the structure of the garden. Over the last 30 or so years Terence has lovingly restored the gardens, recreating the lost fernery and orchard and replanting the borders and sunken garden with the sort of softly billowing planting Jekyll would’ve recognised.

The garden is exclusively open for teamArchie at 2.30pm on Wednesday 7th June and we are delighted that Terence will be with us for the afternoon as our guide and mentor. Tea will be provided by Jane and the Friends of St Michaels Hospice and the proceeds will be split between teamArchie and St Michaels Hospice https://www.stmichaelshospice.org.uk/

We may also be able to extend the day to include lunch at one of Schultz’s other projects, West Green House, just around the corner. If you would be interested in joining us for lunch from 12.00 do please let us know on the booking form.