The line between genius and madness can be incredibly fine. Much depends on a successful outcome.
When Rowena Cade started building her outdoor theatre, The Minack, on an exposed cliff face in the far west of Cornwall, it would have been impossible for anyone else to truly appreciate her singular vision.
Looking down towards the stage
What started as a space for a local production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest would morph, under Cade’s direction, into one of the most distinctive theatres on Earth.
The Wild West
Cornwall is a special place, but the far western parts are particularly magical. Narrow roads wind through rolling hills, the open sea kept at bay by towering, rugged cliffs. Tiny villages nestle in sheltered coves, and all around the connection with the land and the sea is strong.
The Cornish coastline on a warm summer’s day
On a sunny day this is heaven, but when storms roll off the sea the land is battered by howling, salt-laden winds. Cornwall is a land of extremes.
Building an outdoor theatre here would always have been a gamble, although Cade could never have predicted that her life’s work would bring in around 100,000 visitors a year today.
Early Days
For decades the theatre was surrounded by native cliff-top plants.
This was a theatre, so why do anything differently?
Rowena Cade Created This Theatre
However in the 1990s a decision was made to incorporate a garden. What could be more romantic than theatre among the flowers? There’s something very apt about having blending a theatre with a garden. Theatres and gardens are about people, and about playing with ideas and emotions. Both need their audiences.
Gardening here was going to prove challenging. The site is completely open to the elements and devoid of shelter to the south, the mighty Atlantic Ocean spread out behind the stage. Winds whip against the coast and carry salt on the air. Added to that the soil is thin and poor, and remains so regardless of attempts to improve it.
New Vision
When Claire Batten and Jeff Rowe took over the management of the garden they did so with singular vision: conventional horticulture was never going to work here.
Claire Batten teaching the secrets of The Minack to fellow professional gardeners
Claire and Jeff have long been known for their expertise with succulents and South African plants, and their nursery, Penberth Plants, is as well-regarded for its carefully curated range as it is for the excellent quality.
Here was the perfect union between a garden that defied logic and the people with the expertise to make it work.
Jeff Rowe, also sharing knowledge with other professional gardeners
Over a few short years The Minack has embraced the old gardeners’ principle of right plant, right place to a whole new extreme. Succulents like aeoniums and agaves thrive in the poor conditions, as do the proteas that bring their own showbiz glamour.
Against The Odds
By embracing the reality of the site and choosing plants to suit, rather than choosing the plants and trying to create appropriate conditions, the garden at The Minack has triumphed.
You wouldn’t imagine these happy plants lived on virtually no soil!
However the genius of the planting goes beyond just finding plants to suit the site; many of the plants used here are so well adapted to challenging conditions that they refuse to thrive in more amenable conditions. Thus, perversely, this inhospitable site is a happy home to species that would require extraordinary feats of horticulture elsewhere.
Leucodendron argenteum struggles in the vast majority of places but thrives at The Minack
I’ve been to the garden, walked its paths and admired its plants, yet there is still a part of me that cannot believe such a place could exist. So entrenched are the ideas that plants need good soil, shelter and lots of tender loving care that few gardeners would even contemplate a cliff-side garden with such challenges.
The Minack is a masterclass in ecological planting, albeit with exotics rather than the usually favoured natives. Plants can be found in almost anywhere; the big challenge is finding which plants thrive in your conditions and then choosing those that are aesthetically pleasing. Something will grow… whether you like it or not is a different question.
Lessons Learned
Well I’m never going to complain about steep gardens again, and neither will I complain about challenging conditions.
The human desire to make gardens drives us, some of us at least, to try and make our vision of Eden in less than ideal conditions. So many gardeners struggle with poor soil and try so hard to fight the forces of nature and geology that bring us our challenges.
An aeonium with a view
Maybe we go about things the wrong way; maybe rather than tailor our conditions to suit our dreams we should tailor our dreams to suit our conditions? There are so many conventions telling us how to make our gardens and how they should look, but why do we follow them so diligently?
The Minack is testament to what happens when you throw away convention and tailor planting to suit your actual conditions. It’s also a breathtaking example of what happens when you let expertise and determination loose to create a garden.
Californian poppies bask in the sunshine
Success has come from the careful choice of which plants will grow, and then those plants have been woven together to make a spectacular garden. Like so many acts of genius it’s completely obvious when you think about it!
You can find out more about The Minack Theatre here.
What an utterly magical place! I’m so glad you shared it. Thank you, Ben.
Thank you very much for reading.
If you could hear this email you would hear my applause. You always provide food for thought, inspiration, and now travel ideas.
Thank you!
Thank you very much; I aim to please!
At first glance, this spectacular setting seems to be gilding the lily. The actors must feel well and truly upstaged by such glorious topography and plantings!? But as I look at your beautiful photos and think, this looks Mediterranean, now Californian— the reality-defying horticulture is also “acting,” in its own way. What a marvelous effect to add to the transporting pretense of theatre!
Yes that’s a really good point; the garden is having its own performance too.
I don’t think I could watch a show at this theatre though… I’d be too distracted by the wonderful planting.
perfect illustration of “don’t fight the site”…wonderful article.
Very true. And with such dramatic scenery.
Absolutely on point. Beautiful, Ben.
BEN,
You have outdone yourself with this RANT and superb photographs. I was amazed at the intricacies of the hollow cove for the stage, not to mention the tiers of steps for plants and people passage.
Just keep up the positive writing even when you are critically criticizing.
Jay Kruza in Franklin, Taxachusetts.
Ben, this garden is extraordinary in every sense of the word! A little slice of botanical heaven tended by some remarkably visionary gardeners, hopefully with a good sense of balance.