A question that I get asked all the time. And one that I always have an answer for.
Hmmmmmm.........well..... let's say it's work in progress..........
I've owned the house for almost 12 years. I've lived in it and I've let it. When I bought it - from a couple in their late 60s who'd owned it since the 1980s and brought up their own family in it - there was a small patio with a glass table and metal chairs outside the kitchen door, some steps upto a concrete path next to a lawn and then, at the end, a large garage.
That was it.
Since then it's enjoyed several reincarnations but now is the time it get's sorted out once and for all. I'm not getting any younger!
This is what it looks like now. Hardly a thing of beauty. Full of "stuff". Or "junk" as the kids say........
Look closely though. There's a lot there! Galvanised dustbins, a water tank, a seed bin, weather worn stone, pennant flagstones, granite cobbles, a tree fern and loads of other plants.
What's planned - in my mind at the moment - is an oak arbour, my take on an Edwardian Gentleman's Fernery, a mini Stourhead-esque grotto and a rill with a grille. Oh and some Newt-inspired colour themed borders.
The flagstones and cobbles will meander through the blue, silver and grey border and the red and green border, upto the seating area and then on upto the red and orange border and fernery.
Doesn't it sound grand! In a west facing garden that's approximately 4m wide and 5m long.
Here are a few photos of what it looks like now - up close!
The first one is where the red, green and evergreen border will be. I haven't decided yet on an exact planting scheme but there will be some box that, overtime, will be clipped into clouds. There will be a small and slow growing acer and a Tillia Henryana in there too.
The next photo shows the area that will be the blue, silver and grey border. There's a blue hydrangea lurking behind a collection of galvanised bins, baths and troughs - already planted up with a lovely selection of agapanthus that will be joined by some salvias and nepeta.
The final photo looks towards the seating area. The arbour will be over to the right, looking over some paving - I'm undecided at the moment - I like blue stable pavers - and onto the water feature-come-grotto.
Over to the right I'm going to try a hot border - reds, oranges and yellows. It doesn't get a lot of sun and if it doesn't work I'll try something else. To the left of that seed bin - that won't be staying - there will be the rill with a grille. Cheap Street meets The Newt. Hmmmmmmm.
And then there's the garage. A tandem garage. The previous owners used to get 2 cars in there. I added "the treehouse" when the kids were younger. Corrugated tin, slab wood and telegraph poles - with a rope operated trap door to get in!
The kids are grown up now so I'm planning to convert that - a home office with a murphy bed, log burner and glazed units that will look back down the garden. In France they're lovingly called a grange - pronounced like grunge. But with an A.
Translated that's a barn in which crops or animal feed would have been kept.
How appropriate. Something that sounds like grunge and where crops and animal feed would have been found. I'm going a bit more up market than that!
And I've set myself a deadline. 5 months. To get it done. Where over 12 years it's seemingly gone from bad to worse. And then there's the patio to Frome-ify. And the front garden. Oh well. Best get on.
I'll be updating the blog with progress. Will it all get done by the end of July? Who knows!