Great Dixter in Spring

A 2020 visit I'll never forget

Great Dixter is a garden that you can visit repeatedly at almost any time of year without ever tiring of it. Director and Head Gardener Fergus Garrett runs the garden on the same experimental principles as its former owner, Christopher Lloyd, who died in 2006, and the intensively planted borders and meadows change from month to month, and from year to year, so there are always new discoveries to be made. One of the most memorable visits I made was in early spring 2020 when the world was just waking up to the Covid Pandemic and Britain was on the verge of going into full lockdown. Everyone knew that we were about to be asked to stay at home, so on the spur of the moment I decided to dash down to Dixter with a friend, having seen one of Fergus’s instagram posts of their amazing fritillaries. I’ll never forget that visit. Knowing that the world was entering a phase of profound change and upheaval, it felt so incredibly precious and moving to be there. It was a glorious blue-sky day, and we wallowed in the beauty of it all, listening to the joyous birdsong and forgetting about the horrors of the wider world. The early spring bulbs were out in full force, with incredible drifts of pale yellow and hazy purple in the meadows.