I absolutely love to tour gardens/estates/farms and I recently had the absolute pleasure of touring Christopher Spitzmiller’s property, Clove Brook Farm. He opened up his farm for the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days scheme and my dear friend, Gretchen, and I signed up right away! Christopher is a ceramicist who makes beautiful, high end lamps (among other things) that grace some very famous homes, including the White House! I bought his book, A Year At Clove Brook Farm as soon as it came out and continue to browse it for the occasional jolt of inspiration. It’s one of my favorites! Every spring I even make his rhubarb and strawberry jam, as I love to put it in my yogurt in the morning. So suffice it to say, I am a fan and was thrilled to see his farm and all that he’s done. It did not disappoint (though these pictures might as they are all iPhone photos since I didn’t take my Nikon).
We started off at the house, where we had much discussion about the garage since Bryce and I are contemplating adding a garage close to our house. The gardens in front of the house are simple and gracious with a lovely spot off to the side, with the garage behind the house.
Behind the house are the more “formal” gardens, surrounded by a beautiful Hawthorne hedge. Here there were dinner plate dahlias in abundance! This garden was grounded by the dovecote, where Christopher raises a flock of Indian fantail pigeons!
From here, we walked along the lawn, where we saw a lovely shaded garden.
This led us to his newly renovated barn, where his varied and numerous fowl are housed! There are turkeys, guinea hens, ducks and chickens too! The interior of his barn is gorgeous!
Next, we came to the jewel of a pool and pool house. Again, Hawthorne hedging is used brilliantly to enclose the pool area and make it and the gardens feel like an oasis. The pool house, inspired by the temple of Pan, housed a small bathroom, kitchen and outdoor shower. I loved the shape of the pool, as it felt perfectly old-school to me.
Of course, I loved visiting the vegetable garden! I was delighted to see that he trains and prunes his tomatoes the same way I just learned they do it in England.
All in all, it was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours and I came home inspired, with some creative juices flowing!
