My long suffering daughter joined me on a visit to a local stone quarry to collect samples for a client. Little did she know she would be donning a hi-vis jacket and scrambling over mountains of rocks to visit the quarry itself!
As garden designers in Sussex, it is important we know our local materials and resources, and visiting the sites is the best way to see and understand the material, see examples of its use, and also meet the trades folk. We also like to know names and faces. It is important in our business.
Philpots Quarry, now owned and operated by Lambs, is located up near Ashdown Forest. Here they quarry for Wealden Sussex Sandstone, also known as Tunbridge Wells Sandstone. For you Geology enthusiasts out there, it was laid down in the Lower Cretaceous Period (around 100-140 million years ago!), and was formed within large braided ancient river systems. The Cretaceous was the period our famous Sussex Chalk was laid down too, although was later than the Tunbridge Wells sandstone. For more on our East Sussex Geology, visit here …..
The Wealden Sussex Sandstone varies in colour from oatmeal to warm honey and has been used for decades in local buildings. Those of you how have been to visit Wakehurst Place or Gravetye Manor will have seen the stone within the buildings themselves.
Image Credit: RBG Kew
In the garden today, we use the stone mainly in garden walling, and it is also great within water features. As a local material, it blends well into the surroundings, and natural looking ponds are easily accomplished using this material.
As a surface material it is not ideal as it can become slippery when wet, but it matches well with another UK sourced stone – Natural York Stone. The best pavers to make an aged look in a traditional design are Shalbournes. Sadly not UK, but European at least! Or, for a more contemporary feel, sawn sandstone and corten steel and sawn Oak are great partners.
Having a local source of sandstone is lovely. The quarry does have finite resources though, and unless they can expand onto parstures new (literally!) we will run out. For now though, it is my stone of choice and features within our garden designs.
