The garden as we first saw it

A Sanctuary Planted

We had a hunch that this cottage and garden were right for us. We had a long term view, a dream to create something personal. A Sanctuary for ourselves and for wildlife.

The existing garden was very formal. Laid out meticulously, in a different era and not our style at all. There were very clearly defined areas; monocultures. There was the rose border, the hydrangea border, azalea and rhododendron borders, the rockery and two ancient wells. Neat, manicured lawns with stripes and trimmed edges. Very tidy, very perfect, very boring and high maintenance.

Beyond the tall immaculately shaped privet hedge which successfully locked the garden in and totally hid the spectacular view to the south, was an area of about two acres. This huge, featureless space had also been manicured by painstaking mowing.

Tucked into a corner of this otherwise barren vista was a small decrepit greenhouse, a shed and a surprisingly huge fruit cage which contained about 60 feet of blackcurrant bushes, two deep. Nothing else. We were puzzled by this but could never come to any logical conclusions.

Looking back at old photographs, the garden looks like a landscape from another time. It is hard to begin to imagine how we saw the potential for the style of garden we wanted, or recognised our immense naivety, lack of horticultural experience and cash to realise our dream.

The reckless bravado of youth paid off after many years of having grand ideas, learning, improvising, hard work and patience. It was an achievement, a joy.

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