Mr Brim is taking a break. I don’t think Gidleigh Park’s head gardener normally enjoys his morning coffee in the lounge of the five star hotel, but he doesn’t normally do interviews with journalists either.
This Devonian is a bit of a secret legend. Everyone here knows Mr Brim and I sense are even a little in awe of him (he’ll laugh at me for saying that), but surely there’s no one who knows Gidleigh and this patch of Dartmoor landscape quite as well as he does.
Andrew Brimblecombe arrived at Gidleigh Park 29 years ago having previously worked for the health authority, looking after various hospital grounds in the area. He comes from Moretonhampstead, just down the road, and when the Gidleigh gardening job came up he thought. ‘it wasn’t far from home and they were good to work for’.
Back then Gidleigh was owned by Kay and Paul Henderson, ‘pioneers of fine dining in the country’ and it quickly became established as an internationally renowned luxury county house hotel.
We sit looking out at the divine view, over the terrace and lawns, the tumbling waters of a granite boulder-lined stream, all framed by huge trees and distant hills.
‘When I first started there was a massive landscape change, most of what you see now me and my colleague planted,’ says Mr Brim.
It’s hard to imagine that this landscape hasn’t been here forever, just like this. It’s carefully curated but still feels like the essence of Dartmoor. Gidleigh, now owned by the Brownsword family, covers 107 acres in total, with Mr Brim and his two fellow gardeners looking after around 80 acres, including woodland, a putting course (‘that takes a bit of looking after’), a beautiful water garden and the kitchen garden.
‘I think this place grows on you,’ he says. ‘I can do eight different jobs every day and I really enjoy them – but as I’ve got older, I don’t like getting wet so much.’
I wonder if he ever gets much time to sit and study this view.
‘When you have something like this to look after you have to have your eyes open all the time,’ he says.
‘If you look for a long time you will see something wrong - and then you have to deal with it.’
I can’t possibly imagine what might need changing, but I’m sure something’s come to mind when he adds, ‘It’s one of those places where if you take something out it looks better. It changes the actual view. But you’ve got to be brave.’
When something is happy to grow here, ‘it will grow like fury’, he adds.
Mind you, cutting back or removing a tree does help keep the hotel’s fireplaces going – Mr Brim’s team supplies all the wood for the half a dozen or so woodburners.
Whatever changes he does make, keeping Gidleigh’s character is crucial, he says. People love to see the moss and ferns that characterise this edge of Dartmoor location.
‘If you had a never ending pool of money, you could ruin this place, because it has everything.’
Horticulture wasn’t Mr Brim’s first choice, he originally wanted to join the military, but he started gardening and that’s where he continued. He puts it down to having a good memory, and learning through books. No plant identification apps for Mr Brim. ‘I like to go to a book... call me old fashioned.’
‘Your memory has got to be pretty damn good, the knowledge and retaining it,’ he says. When asked if he has a planner or chart to work out the multitude of jobs that need doing throughout the year he smiles. ‘I’ve never had a spreadsheet, it’s all in my head.’
When Mr Brim arrived at Gidleigh chef Michael Caines had been in post for a couple of years. One of the changes that started to take place was with the kitchen garden.
‘We had a kitchen garden but it was much smaller, more of a normal veg garden. It began to evolve from his input and just got better and better.’
Gidleigh’s current executive head chef, Chris Eden, oversees the kitchen that produces exquisite dishes for the Michelin-starred restaurant. He’s a big fan of seasonal produce and meets with the gardeners early each year to plan what’s needed.
‘We grow what they want. But every chef is different,’ says Mr Brim. ‘Someone might want turnips... or, a few years back I had to get birch sap from a tree. We forage for pennywort and wild garlic... the two staples of wild foraging.’
The gardeners will try to grow whatever the kitchen wants. ‘If they want pineapples we’d endeavour to do it,’ he says. ‘Chefs are pretty dammed clever with what they do,’ he adds.
During lockdown Mr Brim was the only one of his team not furloughed, during that time he had to look after the grounds on his own. No vegetables that year then.
But there was lemon drizzle cake. Mr Brim, it turns out, is not averse to a bit of baking himself. And his lemon drizzle cake, which came into its own as a treat for the skeleton team at Gidleigh during lockdown, is now legendary.
I suspect there are a few more surprises to Mr Brim; a true Devonian, he’s not one to brag about things, and I discover that baking isn’t his only hobby. He’s also an amateur archaeologist and member of Moretonhampstead History Society. He’s made many discoveries over the years; Mr Brim must really have a very deep-rooted knowledge and love of this landscape.
‘You plant a building on Dartmoor, even a new one, and you’re planting it on history,’ he says. As for his archaeological finds... ‘If you’re holding something in your hand, it’s the closest thing to time travel.’
I see now why he holds such respect for longevity, for the accumulated knowledge of the gardeners or chefs who go before us.
It feels a bit lightweight to now enquire about celebrity guests. In all his years at Gidleigh Mr Brim must have seen or met some interesting people?
‘I’ve spoken to famous people in the gardens,’ he replies, giving nothing away. ‘It’s like talking to a neighbour. People stop and chat about anything.’
It seems the people, especially the staff, are just as important as Gidleigh’s lovely gardens.
‘I’ve met so many people here, you make so many friends for life. Not a day goes by without bumping into someone. And everyone is so good at what they do. You work with some really lovely people here and I’m very proud of them all.’
gidleigh.co.uk
