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The Gardens in 2005
| The gardens in total cover almost one thousand square metres
and houses a large and varied collection of plants. The site
is orientated approximately north–east to southwest and
has an open, sunny aspect except were the tall house and mature
trees cast pools of shade. In the following description, the
‘western’ boundary is on the left hand side when
facing away from the back of the house. This side of the garden
faces away from the sun and is thus cooler and moister than
the ‘eastern’ boundary (the right hand side of the
garden) that receives full sun for all or part of the day, all
year round. |
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The soil is a neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 7 – 7.5)
silty loam of alluvial origin containing a fair proportion of
small, rolled and broken, flint pebbles. Excavations for a water
storage tank revealed deeper layers of mixed sands and gravels
interspersed with thick bands of silty clay. This soil is fundamentally
unstable and areas of the garden suffer from both surface and
sub-surface compaction.
The garden was largely re-planted in the early spring of 2003
by Ted Howell M.Hort.(RHS) M.I.Hort. Many new plants were introduced
including semi-mature trees, shrubs, climbers and herbaceous
perennials. Established plants of any value were retained, either
in their original positions or moved to integrate them into
the new design.
The gardens may be conveniently divided into five areas: the
Front Garden, the Back Lawn, the Orchard, the Raised Border
and the Paved Garden.
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