OUR GARDENS
Many guests enjoy a wander around the gardens. They are open each day after 10am (or by arrangement), and you will find a route map in the cottage. Relax for a while in one of the many quiet sitting areas, evening drink in hand, watch and listen as the wildlife settles for the night and the garden becomes still.
Sarah is a qualified horticulturalist and garden designer and runs her own landscape consultancy. Over the last ten years Sarah has led the design and development of the garden and when available is more than happy to show you around, explaining the design principals and sharing advice and ideas.
Ornamental Areas
We open for the National Garden Scheme and Sarah is a County organiser. We offer guided group tours by special arrangement. Seasonal interests.
Spring: bluebell woods, aquilegias, alliums and iris.
Early summer: herbaceous borders blooming,
Late summer and autumn: butterfly borders with Eupatorium, Sedum and Buddleia. The lime blossom is full of bees. Hopefully, the moorhens and chicks will still be with us and deer won’t have found the ornamental gardens.
Rewilding
One of the largest changes has been the rewilding of an agricultural field, diverting an underground culvert to create ponds and streams. The result has been a huge increase in the biodiversity of this area with a broader mix of insects, reptiles, birds and animals.
Particular successes are the re-appearance of hedgehogs and House Martins, and the increase in bats, owls, newts and eel with the odd moorhen and deer for good measure!
Kitchen Gardens
In season we share excess fruit and vegetables with our guests, flowers in the cottages are from our own cutting garden.
Spring: the fruit and vegetable gardens are being brought to life again.
Early Summer: first raspberries ready to pick, the vegetable gardens will be in production looking pretty with chives and marigolds interspersed throughout.
Late summer and autumn: main harvest time, although we also grow for winter and early spring.