Step inside the beautiful Caisson Gardens, where years of love and dedication have created a horticultural haven, and where its fascinating industrial past is the wellspring for picturesque ponds and rolling wildflower meadows
Having lived near Bath for more than 20 years, I feel I know the city and its surrounding countryside fairly well. So, when I stumble upon a 40-acre oasis hidden amongst the hills of nearby Combe Hay, I am somewhat taken aback. Particularly when I learn from the owners Phil and Amanda Honey just how steeped in history it is.
The place in question is the gorgeous Caisson Gardens. You’d be forgiven for having never come across this little corner of paradise tucked away between Bath and Wellow. It’s the couple’s private home first and foremost, but one they felt compelled to share with the public since 2024. It’s a narrow window of opportunity to visit here, with the gardens open to the public just on weekends between April and June.
Though the gardens are certainly expansive, there’s another somewhat narrow element to the grounds – and one that has shaped it quite beautifully. Wherever you look there are trace elements of the canal network that used to ship coal from Paulton to the Kennet and Avon Canal at Dundas. Closing my eyes I can almost see the industrious narrowboats being hauled by horse along the towpaths here.
That’s because Caisson House, along with the gardens Amanda and Phil have spent 15 years lovingly restoring, was originally built as the headquarters of the Somersetshire Coal Canal Company. Indeed, Caisson Gardens takes its name from the watertight retaining structures from which locks were made. Thanks to the Honeys, where once there were boats, now there are flowers that barge through the borders. The couple haven’t tried to eradicate the place’s past – instead they have encouraged their wild surroundings to blend with its rich industrial history.
‘The history of Caisson Gardens is its bedrock,’ says Phil, who grew up nearby and used to play and indeed scrump apples in these meadows and orchards as a child. ‘The paths surrounding the house are all made from existing stones from the canals,’ adds Amanda. Though her background is in interior design, she grew up on a farm not far away in Blagdon (her parents are the founders of Yeo Valley). She recalls happy memories of gardening as a child, although confesses working with plants never occurred to her until she met Phil.
Though both come from farming stock, the pair moved to London to set up Palmbrokers, a company creating green scenery for TV and big budget films including Troy and The Woman In Black. When they were at last lured back by the call of the countryside, their intention was not to set up a public garden. ‘That just happened organically,’ says Amanda – much like the garden itself. Growing up on dairy farms, both knew only regenerative and organic farming practices. ‘Doing so here wasn’t a decision,’ Amanda continues, ‘it’s in our blood; it’s such a natural thing.’ It’s no surprise then when I learn they make their own compost and bio-char and have recently bought a small flock of sheep to graze among the wildflower meadows.
Now where once was a gravel car park is a miniature wildflower meadow; the banks of the old pound where narrowboats used to turn, teems with sweet rocket and valerian; the ‘bluebell field’ (named after their daughter’s pony) sways with wild grasses through which butterflies and bees meander. Everywhere I look there are reds, pinks, purples and cerises – glorious pops of colour amidst the lush green fronds.
Two full-time gardeners help Phil and Amanda look after their 40 acres (the head gardener Tristan lives with his family in the cottage by the entrance). Nearby I’d seen old earthworks which Phil informs me are the remains of lock number one. Number eight can be seen at the bottom of the bluebell field through which paths are being mowed in preparation for Open Garden Day.
Preserving the industrial heritage of Caisson Gardens has lent it a somewhat ethereal quality, as though time has stood still here. Phil points to various ponds as we wander through the gardens. ‘When we arrived there was no water here, which struck us as sad given the history of the place, so we put in a pond here, another further down and another in parts of the old canal.’ In doing so they’ve created a habitat that regularly attracts herons, kingfishers and grass snakes, and where aquatic irises, bee orchids and foxgloves flourish.
As we pass the rebuilt greenhouses and the small orchard Phil lovingly prunes, Amanda talks of the painstaking transformation of both house and gardens. ‘It was four years before we could start on the house, so we spent all that energy clearing brambles, creating new pathways and planting 90 per cent of the trees we have now.’
The Grade II-listed building, which a hundred years ago was a home for elderly ladies, needed substantial renovation, particularly the old and impractical lean-tos at the back of the house.
‘To go into the old kitchen we had to put our ski jackets on – it was freezing,’ remembers Amanda. ‘The kids would sit on top of the Aga to eat their breakfast.’
Now the rear of the property features a handsome, honey coloured extension punctuated by a spacious glass orangery – the old lean-tos long since consigned to history. Though embracing the past of Caisson House, the couple are very much looking to the future. They have plans to rewild further areas of the gardens and have a packed programme of open garden days to plan for. There are photography workshops and pruning classes in the pipeline too, and when Phil mentions a gin-making workshop the couple have coming up he jokes about making their own Caisson Gardens gin one day.
The couple also cater for private tours, with Amanda offering her horticultural insights and Phil contributing his wealth of knowledge about the canal and the indigenous wildlife. ‘I’m more of a groundsman I suppose,’ he adds with a wry smile. ‘But together we’re a really good team.’.
Garden Open Days on June 19/20
Morning session 10am to 12 noon
Afternoon session 2-4pm
caissongardens.com
Pre-booking essential.
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