These images are from a recent photoshoot by Clive Nichols at
Nymans, in West Sussex. Nymans is a grand and yet intimate
Edwardian garden which has continued to evolve up to the present
day. The garden was started by Ludwig Messel, a succesful
stockbroker who had come to Britain from Germany and who bought
Nymans in 1890. With the help of his expert head gardener, James
Comber, and encouraged by other notable gardeners in the area
such as Sir Edmund Loder and William Robinson, he began to
create an extensive garden full of rare trees and shrubs.
Features from Ludwig Messel’s day include the pinetum, the rock
garden, the heather garden, a Japanese-style pergola and stone
lanterns, a lime avenue, a prospect platform and an enclosed
Wall Garden. Exotic species such as magnolias and rhododendrons
were introduced, many coming from plant-hunting expeditions in
east Asia. Ludwig’s son Leonard Messel and his wife Maud had the
house at Nymans rebuilt in the 1920s in medieval manor house
style. Maud created the rose ga