The Garden
The garden is one of the joys of the house - after having had many nice gardens in the past which always had some drawbacks. Around half an acre it is flat and to the south (and west) of the house. Way back it was a strawberry field and so the earth is very rich and mostly well tilled, although there are patches which are quite stony (as is common in this area). It also benefits from the warm micro-climate on the south scarp of the Mendips (which is partly why strawberries were successfully grown here).
The owner before the previous owners was by all accounts a lovely old man who spent his retirement making it a show garden with loads of unusual shrubs and flowers. He constructed lots of walling and paths. Yet the intervening 20 years, in the hands of the rather overstretched previous family, have seen most of this getting overgrown and the shrubs went haywire. It wasn't until we (well, Mary really) began bringing it slowly back under control that we started discovering some of the underlying loveliness.
As those who know us, and in particular know Mary, will guess the garden is mostly being put to growing vegetables and promoting wildlife and biodiversity using permaculture methods. It has taken a while but now it is proving pretty productive. Essentially the garden remains in the three sections that were originally here, but we've taken down the massive Leylandii that separated some parts, and also added to the already wonderful small paths and mini-gardens around.
A good size polytunnel was added in the middle area, the end is wilder and hopefully becomes a bit more orchard-like in time with new fruit trees planted. We also have a notable number of sheds! Some original (an old shed and a Wendy House) and two newer sheds for storage and as a workshop after the garage was converted. The latest construction is a wood store.
The owner before the previous owners was by all accounts a lovely old man who spent his retirement making it a show garden with loads of unusual shrubs and flowers. He constructed lots of walling and paths. Yet the intervening 20 years, in the hands of the rather overstretched previous family, have seen most of this getting overgrown and the shrubs went haywire. It wasn't until we (well, Mary really) began bringing it slowly back under control that we started discovering some of the underlying loveliness.
As those who know us, and in particular know Mary, will guess the garden is mostly being put to growing vegetables and promoting wildlife and biodiversity using permaculture methods. It has taken a while but now it is proving pretty productive. Essentially the garden remains in the three sections that were originally here, but we've taken down the massive Leylandii that separated some parts, and also added to the already wonderful small paths and mini-gardens around.
A good size polytunnel was added in the middle area, the end is wilder and hopefully becomes a bit more orchard-like in time with new fruit trees planted. We also have a notable number of sheds! Some original (an old shed and a Wendy House) and two newer sheds for storage and as a workshop after the garage was converted. The latest construction is a wood store.