The Garden

 

We started work on the garden in Autumn 2000. The total site area including wild flower meadows is approximately 7 acres. There are three definitive areas in the garden.

Area 1

During the construction of the house approximately 600 tonnes of sub soil and rubble was moved from the site to create a new terrace and improve the levels for the house. This could be described as a garden of rooms and is in the vicinity of the house. The design is based on the dimensional lines of the building. With hedges and pathways lined up to walls, windows and corner axis. This was the site of great aunt’s garden.

Pond borders - near the entrance is an area of informal planting. A small pond with damp area gives way to drier borders nearer the house. Plants in these borders include Astrantia, Euphorbia, Gunnera, Hemerocallis, Hosta, Helenium, Hosta Inula, Iris, Nepeta, Phlox, Primula, Rodgersia, Stipa.

The Cathedral Garden - red twigged limes (Tilia platyphyllos Rubra) are pleached to form a formal area which will be developed further as the trees mature.

Hosta Walk and Pergola - there are few areas of shade in the garden, on the north side of the house hostas and ferns grow well. The rose covered pergola is a blaze of colour and highly scented in June and July. Roses include Rambling Rector, Wedding Day and Veichebleu.

Potager - edged in box this area is planted with vegetables for the house. We garden this semi-organically on a 4 year rotation and farmyard manure is used as fertiliser.

Thyme Walk - leading off from the pergola is a paved walkway planted with thymes leading to the north gate which opens onto the lavander walk.

The Urn Garden - this garden is planted with a small collection of Cayeux iris and tulips near the pergola is planted with more tender plants. This area is planted very sparsely to allow further control of Equisetum (mare’s tail).which was a serious problem in this part of the garden.

The Dutch Garden - a pathway of granite setts leads though a garden of tom pots planted with white tulips with under planting of alliums and more tulips. Agapanthus give a South African theme in the summer with summer bedding in the pots.

The Long Terrace - this sheltered garden is planted with shrub roses and perennials. The east end is very dry and is planted with plants preferring dry hot conditions. We recorded temperatures in excess of 90 degrees fahreheit on several Summer days over the past 7 years. As one walks west along the terrace the planting changes to a cooler colours as the soil becomes damper as a result of the spring line. You now pass through either the south or north gates and enter

Area 2

This section was started in July 2006 from a grass paddock. During its preparation the Pindle Pond was excavated, a damp area was created along the spring line and the surplus soil material was placed on the slope to ensure the site looked as natural as possible. We moved over 2000 tonnes of soil and subsoil before the area was seeded and the following areas were created.

The Slate Monolith terrace - a contemporary area with a which links the formal garden to the hillside area via a set of steps.

The Lavender Walk - a grass walk edged in a selection of different lavenders.

The Obelisk Garden - under construction - Enclosed by more red twigged limes which will be pleached. A new lawn will be turfed in the Autumn of 2008..

The Prairie meadow - a meandering grass path leads through a newly sown meadow of mainly North American prairie flowers. Which include Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Yellow oxeye daisy, Ladys Bedstraw, St. Johns Wort, Greater Knapweed, Prairie Aster This should be a blaze of colour in mid to late Summer . This area is experimental and will be judged on its success over the next 2 years.

The Dry Garden - under construction - a meandering path leads through an area to be planted with plants preferring drier conditions.

The Damp Valley - this area is a very wet and spring fed. The steep bank has been planted with a selection of dogwoods and willows to stabilise the ground these will be cut hard back each Spring to enable the visitor to view what we hope will be a spectacular damp garden - mass planted with Siberian and Japanese Iris , Astilbe, Rodgersia, Gunnera, Caltha, Darmera and Primula.

The Hillside Garden - overlooks and surrounds the Pindle Pond. This large expanse of lawn is planted with rarer trees. Specimens include Taxodium disticum, Metasequioia, Zelkova serrata, Fagus Dawyck Gold, Liriodendron tulip era and a selection of flowering cherries, crab apples and rowans. The trees have been catalogued and tagged to enable visitors to easily identify them. The north boundary copse has been planted with a selection of shrubs which in time will soften the boundary. We have also planted snowdrops, aconites and English bluebells.

The Pindle Pond - was created from an old cattle drinking hole which is spring fed. This will be further landscaped over the next 2-3 years. And a woodland garden will be developed to linnk the pond with the copse.

You now leave the main garden and enter the wildflower and woodland areas.

Area 3

1st Wildflower Meadow - this was sprayed off and oversown in September 2007. This season it will be kept cut short to enable the wildflower seedlings to grow without too much competition from the grasses in the mixture. Wildflower meadows are very slow to establish so it will look rather bare in the early part of the season.
The two meadow areas were planted with 700 native tree transplants in 2006 which will in time create woodland areas which will enhance the area as a habitat for wildlife. We have also planted a selection of specimen trees to give additional interest. We have planted approximately 40,000 native bulbs. The native narcissi Narcissus oblivaris and psdonarcissus. flowered quite well this Spring however they are a little shy in flowering for the first 2-3 years. Snowdrops and English bluebells are also planted through the meadows. A list of wildflowers is shown separately on the website. To follow

2nd Wildflower Meadow - this was seeded in 2006 and will be allowed to flower this year . Over the next few years we will be improving the diversity of the meadow by adding rarer plants.

The Far Pond - this pond was created about 15 years ago - the banks were sown with a wildflower mix and left alone until 2 years ago when the banks were cut and managed. There is a good establishment of wildflowers and we have further enhanced this area with marsh orchids and frittilaria. This area is a haven for wildlife which we hope to develop further in the next few years.