As temperatures tumble, daylight dwindles and the sun sinks lower in the sky, the shadows cast by towering topiary lengthen, magnifying their silent presence within the austere wintry landscape surrounding The Old Rectory in Bletchingley. “Each shape is different and looks fantastic outlined in snow or frost – every year I feel as if I’m rediscovering them for the first time,” says Trudie Procter from the Italianate garden that she and her husband, Tony, have created in Surrey.
Gazing up at these great giants silhouetted against an opalescent sky that promises more snow to come, it is near impossible to visualise the knee-high bushes of yesteryear. “I could never have envisaged how those baby yews would turn out,” admits Trudie, “and today, as their outlines loom high above me, I marvel at them.” The garden
