Page 23 - cn - fg- The Assembly of Time - Studio Brochure - flickbook e- presentation_Neat

Overbecks affords spectacular views over the Salcombe Estuary. The home is set
in a 7acre garden filled with exotic and tender plants. palms, salvias and olive
trees growing alongside bananas, agaves and acacias. The garden is arranged in
terraces with each affording its own individual view and vantage point of the sur-
rounding coast and garden.
In 1892 a small house was built. It was in 1901 that the garden surrounding the
house took shape when Edric Hopkins , a keen gardener, purchased
“Sharpitor,” {as it was named- referring to Sharp Tor a nearby craggy outcrop}.
The garden is on a steep slope so it took great effort to create level terraces, this
was achieved by introducing retaining walls to form the basis of the garden. The
house was purchased by Captain George Medlicott Vereker, an equally passion-
ate gardener. The Vereker’s built a larger house on the same site and consequent-
ly the garden was further developed. In 1928 the chemist Otto Overbeck bought
“Sharpitor”for his retirement and lived there until his death in 1937. He had ar-
ranged for the estate to be left to the National Trust, on the proviso that the house
and gardens would be renamed “Overbecks”. Otto Overbeck was one of a long
succession of gardening enthusiasts that had refined and added to the collection
of plants and trees. The palms act as a visual linkage between various sections of
the garden. Many of the chusan palms were planted by Otto Overbeck in the
1920’s and there are in all eight different varieties many being self- seeding.

139387 The Palm Gardens
401/8 x 483/16 inches -o/c
Overbecks, Devon.