WHEN WE ARRIVED IN 2014
On the upside, there were several magnificent, very old trees. Of these, my tied favourites are a huge Horse Chestnut and a lovely Copper Beech. Both are very near to the house and play an important part in all aspects of the garden design. They give a great sense of calm and permanence which I love. On the downside the garden consisted of 2 acres with no plants in it - no borders no shrubs (ok, there was one), no established climbers covering the walls, no history, only 800 yards of leylandii hedging, blocking every interesting view and spreading a feeling of gloom. The area that was pretending to be a lawn was in reality a field that had been mown a lot. A lot of the garden was likely to be seen from a distance of 20 or 30 yards and I was a London gardener, used to working in a space that, although a good size for London would have been sniffed at by most country garden owners. Although, of course, it is wonderful starting from scratch and I'm amazed how, now 6 years on, it does at last feel like a garden, I'm still envious and occasionally despondent when I go to gardens where the Magnolia Grandiflora covers the whole wall of the house or the Weeping Willow is big enough to lie under. I will be pushing up daisies before anything like that happens in Burton Grange. But wisteria grows very quickly and the 40 or so roses that I've planted make up for a lot!
I would just like to say that in the beginning I considered taking the easy, if expensive route, and employing someone to design the garden, but I decided in the end to do something different, I knew what I wanted to do in the Pergola garden so that went ahead immediately, but then I spent the first year working out where the sun shone at different seasons and times of the day, where I'd like to sit, and evolving my ideas organically. I say 'my ideas', but because of my work with the NGS, I had several friends who were really good gardeners and gave me wonderfully creative suggestions all of which were invaluable. Penny Snell suggested the silver birches which was the first big statement. Patricia Elkington made me understand the importance of scale - which is a problem for a town gardener, suddenly upsizing. My sister Liz Pile and my friend Alex Davies both continuously keep me from, taking too many wrong turnings.
I suppose what I'm saying is that I have had a huge amount of pleasure creating a garden, using the advice of many willing and inspirational sources, and, while the end result would undoubtedly have been better if I'd used a garden designer, I really feel that this is MY garden, and that is a great feeling. There have of course been lots of mistakes but, as you will know, a garden is always a work in progress!
I would just like to say that in the beginning I considered taking the easy, if expensive route, and employing someone to design the garden, but I decided in the end to do something different, I knew what I wanted to do in the Pergola garden so that went ahead immediately, but then I spent the first year working out where the sun shone at different seasons and times of the day, where I'd like to sit, and evolving my ideas organically. I say 'my ideas', but because of my work with the NGS, I had several friends who were really good gardeners and gave me wonderfully creative suggestions all of which were invaluable. Penny Snell suggested the silver birches which was the first big statement. Patricia Elkington made me understand the importance of scale - which is a problem for a town gardener, suddenly upsizing. My sister Liz Pile and my friend Alex Davies both continuously keep me from, taking too many wrong turnings.
I suppose what I'm saying is that I have had a huge amount of pleasure creating a garden, using the advice of many willing and inspirational sources, and, while the end result would undoubtedly have been better if I'd used a garden designer, I really feel that this is MY garden, and that is a great feeling. There have of course been lots of mistakes but, as you will know, a garden is always a work in progress!
This give you an idea of how much Leylandii there was.It's hiding a tennis court on the right and at the far end is where the pond is now.
This was a scraggy, unpaved area next to the house and now is paved/gravel garden that is the most wonderful sun trap
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This was the view from the house, looking towards Mere with a wall and then a Leylandii hedge
The same garden as above but looking more towards the house
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This was the nearest thing to a flower bed. I turned it into the Peanut bed which you can see under Garden Projects
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The bare house - and more leylandii on the right of the picture which we've replaced with hornbeam
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