... The Sunk Garden was designed to form a sheltered section of garden and was constructed by digging into a slope, so that the garden is up to 5 feet below ground level at the southern end. It was also specifically designed to be an intimate area, with a large number of beds where smaller, more precious plants, could be grown and looked after, and which might otherwise get lost in the larger areas of the garden. The number of plants are too long to list but include a collection of cistus, hebes, a large colony of Lobelia tupa which grows up to 6 ft every year, Cytisus "Porlock", Acacia pravissima which makes a fine bush, covered in yellow flowers in April; Eupatorium ligustrinum which is a little tender but with wonderful corymbs of flat flowers besieged by butterflies late in the season, and a good specimen of Aralia elata "Variegata".

The planting of the gravel floor of the garden is directly into subsoil, the topsoil having been removed. Many plants from the more arid areas of the world thrive in this impoverished soil: Iris unguicularis, which comes from Greece, does very well; various grasses and pinks, Lotus hirsutus, Azara microphylla, and many other plants that thrive on a starvation diet.