Greencombe: A poem in paths, by Ella Duffy

A meditation on a woodland garden of mazy paths, tucked below the north slopes of Porlock Hill on Exmoor.

From November to February, the sun fails to reach over the hill and the garden waits in shadow. It faces the bay and a mercurial stretch of water described as a ‘sunless sea’ in Coleridge’s visionary poem ‘Kubla Khan’. In summer, the garden unfurls into an otherworldly sunny paradise.

Greencombe was developed by plantswoman Joan Loraine (1924–2016). When Joan arrived in 1966 there was only a thin layer of soil. Every autumn she gathered fallen leaves to make leaf mould, from which she made an enriching mulch to spread in the spring, a process that continues today.

The garden contains four National Plant Collections:

– Erythronium (small woodland and mountain lilies)

– Polystichum (the thumbs-up fern)

– Vaccinium (includes cranberry, blueberry and Exmoor’s whortleberry)

– Gaultheria (berries for bears)

Greencombe cover artist

Veteran 1960s’ psychedelic artist and Devon farmer John Hurford provided the images for the Greencombe cover, taken from a triptych he painted of the plants in Greencombe Gardens. John made his name illustrating for Oz, Gandalf’s Garden and International Times, as well as designing album covers. His work is crowded with highly detailed observations of the natural world.