Upsticks

The map below shows the outline of the garden and the overall setting. Use the links below to explore each area further to find out about planting and ongoing care.

An overview of the plot

When we bought this place in 2020, it became apparent that the garden had been managed for a number of years with a hedge cutter and weedkiller. Shrubs were cut right back on a yearly basis to keep them low and there was very little in the borders in the way of planting as they were constantly topped up with herbicide!

With no real gardening knowledge or experience, over the last 5 years I’ve tried to let nature bring back what it fancied and manage it from there. I’ve learned bits and bobs as I’ve gone along from visiting other gardens, reading and – of course – watching Gardener’s World! What I lack in expertise I try to make up for in effort and I love being outside and working hard in the outdoors. With a day job that keeps me indoors and sees long periods in front of a screen, the garden is my happy place and somewhere to relax whilst being active and engaged in a project.

The house is a former barn, so the whole garden area was once (and is still surrounded by) open fields. This is part of the appeal of the setting, but it also means a whole lot of grass and weeds in the borders as nature tries to claim it back! From this perspective, I understand the heavy use of weedkiller by former owners. However, without weedkiller for 5 years, I’ve been amazed at the variety of plants which have established themselves once left to get on with it. I’ve tried to keep a lid on the weeds and allow the more welcome natural colonisers to go to work. There are some areas in the garden where I’ve added to some of the planting. In other areas, I’ve moved things around, split things and propagated others to fill space. Hostas and ferns have been particular targets for this. It is far from job done, but then if gardens were made to be finished, those of us who love being out in them would all be short of things to do.

The garden is divided by the driveway and pond so the main lawn and patio lie on the East side of the drive and the other beds to the West. I reckon there’s about 3/4 acre in total. The main lawn is the biggest and most open with borders on three sides. The other four lawns are all connected but each is separate from the others, divided by mature shrubs, trees and planting so they are each largely obscured from each other. This means that you discover the garden a bit at a time as you walk through and it adds to the appeal. You can find out more about each part of the garden using the links below and if you fancy coming to visit, I’m opening the garden in early June as part of the National Garden Society open gardens scheme – more detail on that here.

Plan of the garden

Explore more in the garden

Click on the images below to find out more about each part of the garden.