Well, not me. (You thought???)
We arrived here 33 years ago today. So, how are we celebrating, you ask?
Yep, unblocking the drains.
Well, if you ever wondered how two people made a two acre garden from two acres of grassland on a ridiculously small budget (try asking a garden designer to design you a patio at the price) you just need to see that guy there. The muscle behind it. (Though with a considerable contribution, must be said, from me and Jeff.) And there he is, still slogging away. Thanks Charles.
I sometimes feel guilty, having wished this lot on him. Though I spared him children, who might have cost as much money, tears and sweat. I wonder if parents ever feel bad about what they bounced their partner into?
So, how are we doing after 33 years? (It’s not actually true that I rushed out with a spade the day we arrived. But it was not long after.)
Have we finished the garden yet?? You all know the answer to that. As John Grimshaw said to me recently ‘There is no fixed arrival point’. In fact, we seem to have arrived, as keen post readers will be well aware, at that depressing point we are always warned about, when renewal is the game.
But Charles has a new toy. He is to photograph and write a new book on Welsh gardens and he bought a drone, just, you understand, in order to take photographs for the book. That it’s also great fun is totally beside the point. It also means that I can show you some of his practice pics of the Veddw which will also show you the point the garden is at after 33 years.
There is the photographer – the little red figure at the bottom. And this is a view of the house, and the gardens to the south of the house taken in April this year.
And this is part of the gardens to the north, also in April this year. (The field isn’t ours though.)
This is a broader view, giving a glimpse of the Meadow, Orchard and Front Garden.
And here is nearly all of the garden plus the house next door, top right, which, like the field, isn’t ours. But could one day be yours.
And here is a picture of what you might call our context – a view out of the garden.
All that doesn’t really summarise 33 years but it makes a shot at it. It’s a great place to be and we are extraordinarily lucky (apart from the drains) and grateful. It seems to me we may be one of a diminishing group of garden makers, as how many other ordinary people will in future be able to make a garden like this?
If you’d like to see some of Charles’ non drone photographs of Veddw, try his GAP link.
I wonder how many more times I shall be heaving out loads of congealed crud from our drains? Loads, I hope. Just for the sake of accuracy and to get in before anyone else, I wasn’t cutting the grass in the first pic- I was using a bastard rotovator to establish, I think, what ultimately became the magnolia walk. And I am very clear that I have the helper role in this endeavour. You’re the visionary one and did most of the hard graft in those early years. And I don’t hold it against you for choosing to plant masses of box- you weren’t to know it would develop ghastly blight and give us loads of grief. I’m sure children would have been more trouble. We just have to work out how we are going to manage this for another 30 years. Any ideas?
Wonderful! So very inspiring to see these photos. Do you count from the time you arrived, or the time you “began a garden”? Only curious because I find myself making that designation since the garden is so young. 7 years here, 5 years for garden-starting. Yet that two years IS part of the garden starting – the muddling around, watching the sun exposure, becoming aware of soils, buying plants in preparation and then realizing they’re completely inappropriate…
Michael just got a new drone toy too and I am LOVING the perspective. Allows me to see the layout, perhaps adjust a few things, and above all, realize just how close and dense the woodland really is. Congratulations on being in Carolyn’s book too! Wonderful write up and great photos. xoMarianne
O – you’ve seen Carolyn’s book? How tantalising – it’s not out here until November.
I count from the day of our arrival but maybe it should be a few days later! It wasn’t long before I began digging and wondering how on earth I was going to manage it…
I look forward to your drone pics then. Xxxx
yes children are more trouble, they can’t be cut back…or sold. Luckily I have both children and garden, both works in progress
Yes, I think it may have been the realisation that you can’t send them back if you don’t like them that convinced me that children weren’t on my menu….Good luck with yours! Xxxx
Yours’ is such a great story. Thank you for sharing it for so such a long time already (warts and all), also with complete strangers; which can be so difficult…
And may this place give you energy and creative power for many, many years to come.
Bad-tempered in order to trigger something in others? And not to be complacent. Thank you again.
Thank you, Bernhard! To discover the reason for the temper, perhaps a copy of the book…? I will treasure your good wishes. Xxxx
I have read your book many times and found a kindred (but much more determined!) spirit. I disagreed in some aspects then (certainly more than I would now), or perhaps: I would not have fought “them” so much. Your creation speaks for itself.
Funnily enough, the copy, which is in my shelf now, even has your inscription in it, although I have never met you, and unfortunately never made it to your kingdom, (though narrowly missing it some years ago).
Ha, you have got a secondhand copy then? Maybe it was a gift from someone who knew you well. Shame about the narrow miss….. Xx
Oh no. The other way round. I bought two copies quite early. Gave them to friends as a gift, and acquired the last one 2nd hand later.
I love that you thought it good enough to gift. Thank you for telling me. Xxxxx
congratulations on 33 years, what a magnificent accomplishment. i love all the aerial photos which nicely puts it in perspective. i hope you had a lovely celebratory dinner!
also, i’m pretty sure kevin is going to want to buy a drone after seeing this.
We did dine well. And, yes, drones are addictive. Love to Kevin and thanks! Xxxx
Well, that last picture of Charles and Anne tells story, doesn’t it.
Ah, those were the days. Have you noticed though, how in such pictures it’s always the woman gazing at the man?!
Ah, those were the days! Have you noticed though, in those kinds of pictures it’s always the woman gazes at the man??!!!
Love seeing the drone photos! Such a beautiful garden and Wow! What work! Congratulations and 33 years! Such an inspiration!
Thank you!
Love that drone, I want one too. I find it very helpful this view of your garden from the heavens, the lay out becomes instantly clear. It is amazing what you both have done with just a field in Wales.
My own garden needs a revamp as well, all box hedges, balls etc. are dead, my berberis hedge is dead as well due to the extremely dry and hot weather we had lately in Dutchland. I am going for stone walls this time, saves a lot of labour as I have less time to work in the garden due to the fact that I bought another garden in France with an 18th century presbytary attached to it. Oh well, never a dull moment eh?
Do you think a garden should look good from above as well as on the ground? This is going to give rise to some interesting perspectives.
I’m sorry to hear about your garden nightmares. Watch this blog for what we have decided to do with our box blight problem. Stone walls would be lovely but unaffordable here!
Interesting that you’re willing to take on another garden in another country!
Great to hear from you. Come and see us! Xxxx
33 years commitment to a garden…that is quite an achievement in these fickle times! I’m only 3 years into our home garden and on a much smaller scale and it’s daunting enough!
Keep at it, and if you need some moral support do ask – I’d be happy to help. Xx
Congratulations. A combined achievement that justly needs celebrating.
A marriage/ partnership and a Garden that wholly satisfies and is open to change. From earlier in your blog the words >edit and focus< come together. They can be applied to many things in life as couples come together but to a garden maker they are essential from its very early days of lay out and planting years, as I'm finding out 3 years in with a new small garden.
The drone is another tool allowing us to see a garden from a fresh angle, how areas join, but it is on the ground we see wether we've been successful achieving, capturing and recognising the important quiet spirit of a place. Sometimes it's already there, at others the garden maker makes it from a blank canvas that through slow time goes on editing and focusing, as you both have, a cause for much joy.
I love your eloquence: thank you. Well put. Xxx