Jules Verne

The designer of Stoberry garden, Frances Meeres Young who with her husband owns the house and garden has written a short history of the estate.

Stoberry Park  and Garden- A Landscape Transformed

Stoberry House and Park occupies the site of a former Mediaeval field.

Stoberry is approached at the head of College Road. It was built by Peter Davis, one of the resident gentry. In 1718 he began to acquire parcels of land. On this, he built himself a new Mansion, Stoberry, set in landscaped grounds. The name was antiquarian in inspiration deriving from an earlier name of the open field which was Stabergh. It was built and lived in by 1745.

The House was demolished in 1957 and used to stand where our pond-garden lake-is now situated; the present Stoberry House was originally the coach house.

“A whole new chapter in the family’s life began, arriving in Wells from Botswana and transforming an English jungle into a fantastic garden – a piece of paradise from a wilderness, filled with black sheep and barbed wire, left to run wild the untamed garden was awaiting transformation”, wrote garden journalist Mervin Hancock.

On viewing Stoberry for the first time, my first reaction was to turn around and flee, but my husband fell in love with the view and the position, so persuaded me to reconsider and imagine a vision that
could be created on the large blank canvas. So, we started gardening at Stoberry in 1997.

To the East of the House is the Walled Garden. Part of this used to be a very rough area, used for sheep and full of thistles and nettles, now the open part of the Garden – with one area leading you through to a view of the next. There is a new rose garden, which is sheltered and enclosed in a peaceful corner, allowing you to sit and enjoy the fragrances and the scent of the Clerodendrum. The sunken garden is a much more contained area, luring you to explore and wander.

When I started to think about of the design for the Garden, the advice given to me by friends was to break it up into several ‘rooms’- which I know would have worked successfully – but I feel we are so lucky to have space, and with my African background, I wanted to enjoy this. Gardening is great fun. Everyone’s opinions differ about the way a garden should look. I have always felt it is a bit like cooking…. some people like spicy food, others bland, and who is to say which one is right! For me living as far as possible in balance with nature is important.

You can read the rest of what Frances has to say about the garden transformation in a small online booklet. The book also shows the original house, the current house and garden before and after it was renovated.

• Stoberry Garden Booklet

Information in the Gazebo next to the pond explains that the owners had an unexpected surprise whilst creating the pond area. Until 2002 that part of the garden consisted of rubble and rough ground following the demolition of the original house in the 1950s.

The Garden Pond seemed to be an ideal way of recapturing a semblance of wonder that this location has to offer, situated as it is with such a wonderful backdrop.

The pond was originally going to extend over the area where you will see a rectangular formal pond. During the excavation stage on the large pond, the digger driver uncovered the corner of the capping to the well: a domed roof structure, but that was all that existed between us and the bottom! This is the first we knew of the existence of the well, and it was quite a frightening moment when a open hole appeared in the ground and we discovered that the well is 60 ft deep, and with 15 ft depth of water, and people would have been walking over it for year.

• Stoberry House Bed and Breakfast Accommodation and more…

Photos are a mixture from both my stays at Stoberry House.

All too soon it was time for our last breakfast at Stoberry House before departing for our homeward journey. After saying goodbye to our hostess and husband we set off to Bristol to visit SS Great Britain.

It being Easter weekend, there was a bit of queue to purchase tickets. Mr C queued and sent mum and I off to browse around the shop, which was also crowded (especially by the book section). I noticed a colouring book which I couldn’t resist purchasing after we had enjoyed the tour of the ship.

We enjoyed the tour of SS Great Britain, mum kept exclaiming how awful it would have been to travel on that ship, which made me think that in those days it would be an adventure to travel on that ship.

After our tour of the ship we continued on our journey home stopping off at the Michael Wood services for lunch. The lunch options were not great so we opted for a sandwich from Waitrose, which we enjoyed eating in the car before continuing on our journey home.

We arranged with our hostess to have breakfast early so that we could attend the Eucharist service on Easter morning in Wells Cathedral. Our hostess was also hoping to attend the service with  her husband (who was not normally home for Easter). When we arrived for breakfast we found that in addition to the fruit platter three Lindt chocolate bunnies had also been placed on the table. After breakfast Mr C dropped mum and I off by the Cathedral so that we could find some seats whilst he parked the car.

Everyone in the congregation was very welcoming. The service, led by the Bishop of Taunton, was moving and uplifting; she gave a sermon on life and death using personal accounts of family deaths and the more recent attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt. At one point in the service, just as the choir responded to the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer, I noticed that, high up in the Cathedral, the figure of Christ on the Cross was fully illuminated by the sun and bright rays of fanned light streaming through a window across the scissor arches where the figure of Christ is situated.

When the service had finished we left through the main doors of the Cathedral which are normally closed and shook hands with the Bishop as we made our way into the Cathedral precinct. At this point Mr C informed me of something that I had completely missed whilst the service was taking place. Whilst the Eucharist was taking place two of the other guests from the B&B had entered the Cathedral through one of the side doors hoping to visit as tourists!!!

Mum and I went for a cup of tea in the Cathedral cafe whilst Mr C went to fetch my camera and his bag from the boot of his car. When these had been retrieved Mr C joined us for a cup of tea and once we had been suitably refreshed we made our way to the Bishops Palace Garden to see the palace, gardens and chapel. The morning sun was lovely and sunny but there was a chilly wind. When we had finished exploring the Bishops Palace Garden we had lunch in the Cathedral cafe before setting off on a scenic drive through the Chedder Gorge ending up in Wookey Hole where we indulged in ‘naughty’ ice cream.

After this bit of naughtiness we headed back to Stoberry House so that we could enjoy the parts of the gardens we didn’t view yesterday before it was time to freshen up before dinner. As we wandered round the lower garden Monty accompanied us for a short while before he disappeared further afield.

We dined in Rugatino’s which is an Italian restaurant attached to the Ancient Gatehouse Hotel. The food was good and the service was excellent. As we made our way back to Stoberry House we once again encountered sheep in the road before we could enjoy one last nightcap ahead of our journey home the next morning.

After a good nights sleep we made our way downstairs for breakfast. Once in the breakfast room we found that a table for three had been set up in a prime location for stunning views over the garden towards Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Tor. The breakfast was every bit as superb as it was on our previous visit last July.

Over breakfast we, with a little help from the lady who served breakfast, we decided on our first port of call for the day; Montacute House. We arrived just as the house opened and decided to go into the house straight away. This proved to be a good choice, we missed the later queues for entry to the house and the inside the house was relatively quiet and easy to get around and appreciate. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Long Gallery which is claimed to be the longest in England.

When we had finished viewing the house, we spent time in the gardens and grounds. By the time we had finished it was time for lunch. The food options were a bit limited but once again we beat the rush and found a table so we could sit and enjoy our choices. After lunch we called in briefly at the shop and then considered our options for what to do next. There was another National Trust property nearby but were minded to do something completely different. After a little bit of research via maps and Google we decided on Kilver Court Gardens which is just 6 miles outside Wells. The garden sounded small but interesting. When we arrived there, the entrance didn’t look promising, but we bought a ticket and went into the garden. We were pleasantly surprised to find that garden, although small, was quite delightful.

After the garden visit we browsed around a bric a brac store that had some interesting gift ideas before heading back to Stoberry House. We started to explore the garden at Stoberry but the windy weather deterred us from exploring it to its full extent. We retreated to the warmth of Stoberry House where I had a nice relaxing bath and got ready for our evening meal in Goodfellows. The meal was excellent. I chose pollock with pancetta, soya beans and mixed mushrooms on a bed of mashed potato – it was delicious.

After the meal as we drove up the road from the bottom of the property to Stoberry House we were once again delayed by sheep lying across the road. We could see their breath as they exhaled in the cool night air. After some gentle persuasion, the sheep moved to the grassy area to the side of the road allowing us make our way up to Stoberry House where we enjoyed a nightcap before retiring for a good night’s sleep.