Castle Drogo

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Castle Drogo

The vision of a millionaire, an architect and a plantsman

Julius Drewe, self-made millionaire, had a visionof creating a family home steeped in history andthe dream became a reality when work began in1911. The castle sits within a designed landscapewith a garden of manicured formality, carvedfrom and set against the wild grandeur ofDartmoor. Set away from the castle the gardenwas a private family space.

Edwin Lutyens, one of the most renownedEnglish architects of the time, wascommissioned to bring Drewe’s grand ideasinto reality. Lutyens hated ‘squalid houses andmean gardens’. He designed the castle,landscape and garden for Drewe on an area ofplantation, scrub and farmland.

The castle was built by local craftsmen usinglocally sourced materials. A hidden garden wascreated protected from the rigours of altitudeand weather by yew hedging. The gardendesign is dominated by circles, rectangles andgeometry and echoes Lutyens’s work on theViceroy’s Palace in New Delhi, India at the same time.

The garden layout you see today is the original design. A moderngarden for a modern castle, it represents a snapshot of 1920sgarden style. The garden is grade II* listed and is of exceptionalhistoric importance.

National Trust - Castle Drogo

Find out more about the garden, the plants and GeorgeDillistone in the Luncheon House - see the map on theback page for its location.

George Dillistone, a garden architect and renowned plantsman,designed the planting schemes for the Drogo gardens, softeningLutyens’s strong architectural lines. Dillistone was a curt man,efficient, dedicated to professionalism and his horticultural trade, and well thought of by his peers. His planting scheme atCastle Drogo was exuberant, providing colour, scent, structureand impact.

Drogo has the National Trust’s highest garden, where theDartmoor weather constantly challenges the plants and ourgardeners. There were once eleven gardeners working here.Today, keeping this predominantly formal garden weed free, thepaths raked, the roses deadheaded, the fine lawns neatly edged,the hedges cut, and the borders full of flowers keeps our gardenteam of four staff and 15 volunteers busy all year.


A compact garden adjoining the castle, accessed viaarches, steps and tunnels. A tranquil space, where a seatinvites you to sit and rest a while.

Chapel Garden

From 2013 to 2019 the extensive conservation building project tomake the castle watertight meant access to this garden wasrestricted. Covered in scaffolding for six years, the weeds tookhold, the fig tree became overgrown, and the lawns becamemeadows!

In January 2019 the granitepaving was re-laid, the entirearea double dug to removetroublesome weeds: nettles,docks and creeping thistle,and the area levelled. Now thefig tree can once again beannually pruned, lawns sownand mown, borders plantedand wall shrubs trained.

The garden is laid out to Lutyens’sand Dillistone’s combined 1927design. The borders comprise ofroses, catmint, and lavender. Thechapel walls will, in time, be coveredby climbing hydrangea and Japanesequince. A mature fig tree on thebattlement wall lends aMediterranean feel to the space; inmarked contrast to the windsweptDartmoor landscape beyond.


There are many paths leading down into the gorge. Ask atthe visitor reception for information about routes.

Landscape surrounding the castle

Situated high above the Teign Gorge the castle sits dramaticallywithin the Dartmoor landscape. From the south end of the castle,rough grass lawns gradually fade into moorland heath and trees.

From the castle looking over the gorge you can view the medievalWhiddon deer park. The steep sides of the Teign Gorge arecovered in oak woodlands. Although they appear natural, thesetrees are a legacy of industrial scale charcoal production overmany hundreds of years. Further east dark conifers are the resultof more recent forestry management.

The National Trust’s rangers work closely with partners such asButterfly Conservation and the Woodland Trust to look after over2000 acres. The rangers manage the heaths encircling Drogo toencourage butterflies and many other heathland species. The oakwoods are managed to create a more varied woodland habitat,and in the plantations conifers are gradually being replanted withbroadleaved trees.


Rhododendron Garden

Situated below the main garden, access is via the Chapel Gardenor it can be viewed from above over the hedge that leads from thecastle forecourt. This woodland garden has a south-westerlyaspect so takes the force of most winter storms.

Basil Drewe, (son of Julius Drewe), planted up this area in the1940s and 1950s. Basil wanted to create an area to reflect hisgarden ideas and plant choices. Rhododendrons dominate thisspace, a plant that was very fashionable at the time and wellsuited to our acidic soils. The flowering trees and shrubs amongthe rhododendrons include: camellias, magnolias, floweringdogwoods and cherries.

This area of the garden peakswith a wonderful show offlowers in late spring when thepinks, reds and yellows of therhododendrons complementthe whites and pinks of themagnolias and camellias. Laterin the season hydrangeas arethe stars. We are slowlybuilding up the number of

hydrangeas we have, trying new varieties and then mass plantingthe ones that flourish.

The banks are very steep here making it a challenge to garden.Much of the land was built up using material from the castleexcavations so the soil is thin and full of stone. To plant here weuse a tool called a mattock; a bit like a double sided blunt axe we‘chop’ at the soil and stone slowly creating a planting hole.


Visit the Luncheon House to see pictures of the gardensoon after its construction.

From the castle to the garden

The castle forecourt commandsfine views across the Teign Gorgetowards Dartmoor. Steps leaddown through an arched tunnelto the chapel garden below thebattlements.

From the forecourt, a long lowyew hedge leads towards thelower entrance to the maingarden. Look down over the hedgeinto Basil Drewe’s Rhododendron Garden. In summer Cornuskousa trees flower with striking creamy white bracts, (flowers thatare, in fact, modified leaves), followed later by the strawberry likered fruits.

Granite steps lead up through gates into the sunken rose gardenwhere the whole garden opens up. The placement of the mainpaths and vistas makes the most of the afternoon sun throughoutthe garden with a sunny side to the north and a shady side to thesouth. Note that the formal garden is cut into the hillside to thesoutheast and brought up to a level to the northwest.

Much of the area that became the garden was previously used forstone masonry and forging the ironmongery during the castle’sconstruction. It is hard to believe when looking at the gardentoday that under the lawns and paths is a substantial amount ofwaste granite, ash debris and builders’ waste.


The roses are best between June and September. To get upclose and enjoy their fragrance please do walk on the grass.

Rose Garden

Frances Drewe loved roses, so a rose garden was a ‘must have’ forDrogo. The Dartmoor weather is challenging for rose cultivation,but the milder microclimate of the sunken rose garden gives someprotection from the elements.

Completed in 1927 the rose garden, with its chequerboard bedsreflect Art Deco designs of the period, and echoes Lutyenschanging style. Scented, repeat flowering, and compact rosevarieties fill the beds. The four trees are crab apples, Malus‘Everest’, pruned in summer to restrict their growth, forming abalanced size and shape appropriate for the space.

To keep the roses flowering all summer, we feed twice withgranular fertiliser. We spray them monthly with a seaweed foliarfeed, which boostsgrowth withmicronutrients.Healthy roses copebetter with summerdrought and sufferless from mildew andblackspot. Wedeadhead the flowersat least twice a week,encouraging newblooms.


Rose Garden

In the autumn, we prune the roses to 60 cm, which reducesdamage to the roots from ‘wind rock’ in winter gales. Burning theprunings prevents rose diseases in the garden compost. Springpruning removes weak, dead, dying and crossing growth. Thinstems are cut down to 10 cm high and thicker stems 40 cm.Selectively cutting out a few older ‘brown stems’ at ground levelencourages new growth. Finally, after mulching with well-rottedsterilised manure the roses can grow away for a spectacularsummer show.


Want to know about different varieties? Each rosebed is labelled.

Visit the Luncheon House to find more information on theindividual varieties. If you wish to know what a plant is aska gardener or send a picture by email [email protected]

Herbaceous borders

The famous Veitch nurseries of Exeter employed plant hunters suchas the Lobb brothers, and had introduced nearly 1300 plants tohorticulture before 1914. Veitch supplied Dillistone with all theornamental plants used in the original design for the Drogo garden.

The plants in the borders and indeed the entire garden wouldhave been the trendy plants of the time. Today, with Dillistone’soriginal border plans in mind, we plant in his ‘style’, with smallgroups of the same plant repeated at regular intervals.

The borders before you todayconstantly evolve. Our plantingtakes advantage of longerflowering seasons using diseaseresistant varieties. We are mindfulthat any new plant choice shouldreflect Dillistone’s plantsmanship.

A lot of work goes into these borders all year round. We mulch thebare soil in early spring, and then support the plants as they grow,often with woven hazel to prevent the plants from collapsing afterheavy wind and rain. In the summer we deadhead and weed andfrom October, after a season of assessing which floweringcombinations work well, we lift, divide and replant. In winter wecut all growth to soil level and wait in anticipation of the newshoots of spring.


If you have a favourite blue plant that we might consider,please let us know.

Blue Borders

In 1929, George Dillistone referred to these two beds as the ‘BlueBorders’. The original planting plan for the herbaceous bordersleaves the blue borders blank. However, in September 1929, he listsadditional plants required for the blue border including: Delphiniumbelladonna, Delphinium persimmon and Ceratostigma willmottianum.

In Basil Drewe’s copy of Alice Martinau’s 1917 book ‘TheHerbaceous Garden’, the chapter entitled ‘Blue Gardens’ isannotated in pencil with his personal notes such as ‘see’, ‘get seed’,‘one day’ or ‘no’. Today, we have a wide range of ‘blue’ plants tochoose from and the planting aims to capture the planting style ofGeorge Dillistone.

In the spring, Hyacinth andAnemone provide an early show,followed by Globe thistles, lupinsand rose ‘Blue for You’. Annuals andbiennials fill the summer gapsincluding Salvia horminum ‘OxfordBlue’, Delphinium chinensis ‘Blue

Butterfly’ and Lobelia erinus ‘Cambridge Blue’. In late summer, darkpurple gladioli add contrast and drama.

To make the blues really stand out, careful additions of anothercolour palate is used. This varies from year to year but you may seelime greens, deep purples, bold silvers and plum coloured foliagebeing used. To avoid the blues looking washed out and muted, weavoid planting lilacs or pinks.


On a summer’s day the dappled shade of the arbours makea cool place to sit in contrast to the hot and sunnybenches of the fragrant terrace.

Arbours

The four arbours, one in each corner of the garden, each havefour Persian ironwood trees, Parrotia persica. Native to northernIran and southern Azerbaijan closely related to Witch hazels, it isan uncommon, drought tolerant garden tree with exfoliating bark.Its common name refers to the strength of its timber.

Every year we prune them to a pleached framework of branchesfrom a tall ladder. It takes a week to prune each arbour. Hart’stongue fern, Asplenium scolopendrium planted in a formal gridpattern completes this shady scene. The Persian ironwoods’leaves put on a fabulous display of colour in the autumn.

Originally, the four arbours each had four weeping elms, Ulmusglabra. These succumbed to Dutch elm disease and were replacedwith the sixteen Persian ironwoods in the 1980s.


While away the afternoon in the sunshine enjoying thefragrant breezes or look out east through the arbour tospot Haytor on Dartmoor, Lutyens’ favourite view.

Fragrant Terrace

In archive letters, George Dillistone refers to planting the terracewith lavenders, lilies, rosemary and scented annuals, along withother plants to offer seasonal interest. However, no planting plansexist, so we have to be creative.

The two Wisteria sinensis, growing along the top of the wall areoriginal at around 90 years old. In contrast to the bold colours inthe herbaceous borders, we have chosen a relaxing harmoniouscolour scheme for the fragrant terrace, with blues, purples and asplash of pink with plummy reds, offset by a foil of silver foliage.Warm summer air and touch releases the scent. The lavenders,sage, salvias and ferny foliage of fennel and artemisia all releasetheir fragrance when brushed.

Early in the season scented hyacinth start off the show, followedby forget-me-nots and tulips. In the height of summer annualssuch as Nemesia ‘Wisley Vanilla’ adds punches of perfume.


Follow the paths through the shrubbery to find theLuncheon House and the Bunty House.

Shrubbery

Connecting the circular lawn with the fragrant terrace, theshrubbery has trees and shrubs chosen for their spring/summerblossom and rich autumn colour. Brightly coloured azaleas andrhododendrons that flower in early summer flank the central path.

George Dillistone designed and planted the shrubbery in 1924with plants bought from Veitch Nurseries; many of the originaltrees and shrubs are still thriving today. We have Dillistone’soriginal plans for this area, which show the planting carefullygrading from low to high. This allows you to see the plants at theback of the shrubbery as well as those close to the central path.

Many of the plant specimens in this area originate from China,Japan and Chile; and were newly discovered species whenplanted, at a time when plant collecting was at its height. Theywould have been rare, expensive and exclusive!



The Luncheon House

Lutyens designed this building; during the build of the castle,there were several of these huts across the site. This is the onlyone that remains today, positioned here by the family to use as astore for games equipment.

Today it is our garden information room. It is here you will findout all about the plantsman George Dillistone and see the workthat goes into presenting and managing the gardens to a highstandard by watching our year in the garden film.

As the year progresses, we will be developing the information inhere to include details of the plants we grow in the garden,helping you to identify the plants you have spotted on your visit.You will also see archive pictures of the garden as it was shortlyafter completion.

The Bunty House door is open, so you can go insideand play!

Bunty House

Julius Drewe’s grandchildren enjoyed playing in this tiny house.Modelled on a 1930s suburban home the playhouse and its littlegarden dated from the 1930s.

A similar manufactured playhouse sold as a ‘Bunty House’. It wasadvertised as ‘picturesque, fireproof and daintily fitted as a ladiesgarden tea house’ and was a trade exhibit at a Chelsea FlowerShow of the period. We are conserving Drogo’s original BuntyHouse; the one you see here is a replica.


Walk the entire perimeter path, feeling immersed in greenas you move around the lawn. Rest at each bench, and takein the peace.

Circular Lawn

This simple space is an imposing oasis of green. At the top of thegranite steps enjoy the view straight down the garden.

This 2,500 square metre lawn takes a lot of care and attention. Weextract small plugs of soil to allow air and water in (hollow tining),scarify to remove dead grass and moss, and cut the lawn surfaceto encourage the grass to tiller for the roots to put on lots of newbranching growth (slitting). Then, we seed and feed, apply naturalgrowth promotors and iron to reduce moss and encourage a lushbut hardwearing emerald green fine lawn. Once a year we cut the200 metres of yew hedge around, it takes about ten days. We usea mobile scaffold tower to reach the top safely.

The Drewes used this lawn as a place for their family to play; herethey enjoyed games of clock golf, tennis and croquet. You can playtoday; enjoy a game of tennis or why not try your hand at croquet,(mallets and game rules are available from the visitor centre fromMay to September).


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Key1 Car park2 Visitor centre (café,

shop, reception, toilets)3 Picnic areas4 Garden5 Rhododendron Garden6 Event hut7 Castle entrance8 Toilets

Steep/uneven pathDog path

OrchardFull of wild;owers this isthe perfectplace for apeaceful picnic.

Croquet LawnPlay games on thelawn. If you fancy agame of croquetask at reception(May-Sep).

Bunty HouseCome on in and play,have a picnic with theteddy bears, read astory or welcome afriend in for tea.

The Luncheon HouseDiscover more about thegarden by picking up a guide.

Mr Drewe’s PathTake a stroll along Mr Drewe’sfavourite path and enjoy theviews up and down the gorge.

The Drogo EstateExplore the Teign Gorge with its ancientwoodland, riverside walks and dramaticviews. Pick up a walks lea;et from receptionto help you :nd your way.

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The ChapelFollow the path throughthe RhododendronGarden and around thesouthern end of the castleto see the Chapel.

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Ask a friendly gardener if you have any further questions.

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Castle Drogo