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Wednesday the 18th of June 2007. A rare relatively dry day after overnight and early morning rain. The light is excellent and an opportunity to add pictures that really look like summer. We hope that they cheer our visitors up during what is a cold and miserable three months since that spectacular sunshine of April. Still the measure of a good garden has to be it's ability to withstand all the potential vagaries of the English climate. That said, it still seems typical of our weather, unpredictable and as often as not wet. So where is the vast climate change we are supposed to pay tax on!!

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The very first "summer page" picture early June.

I call this the long walk.  The lupines you see here were bashed to the ground soon after by the rain.  Not only that but they flattened everything around them due to their weight when full of water.  It broke my heart to see it all destroyed but that's gardening.

The next generation of gardeners?
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My sisters twins on a sunny day in early August.  If they take to gardening they will be the fourth generation for whom this is a very special thing to do.

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The new, small bed at the west end of the cottage, July 2007

This is the first year of this planting and I am quite pleased with the result.  There has been a tree here long ago and after it was removed a large dip appeared in the ground which no one ever got to grips with.  Rather than build it up I thought that putting the bed in was a better idea and this little bit of lawn was not making any kind of statement.  Also when viewed from the drive this bed adds to the enhancement of the series of terraces on which the garden is built.

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Cheeky landscaping!.

The willow tunnel is starting to make and impact.  However it needed to be longer and we extended it in the 08.  At the moment the door is too prominent and I want you to come upon it rather than it be so in your face.  I have added mirrors behind the holes in the door which we found in a local reclamation yard and we believe was at one time a pantry door.  The under gardener has treated the wood and then painted it before attaching it to the fence.  We shall allow the hedge to grow around to "bury it" a little more and I have planted some evergreen ivy which you cannot see in this picture but in time will also hang accross the door.  My favourite book as a child was "the secret garden." This trick with the door I did at our last home, most successfully and in time I think this will work well here too.  The tunnel was put here to encourage people to walk at the back of these long borders towards the "long walk" and this it has done.

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The hand rail was added for the NGS day.

We are both very pleased with this hand rail.  It was quite a challenge to get the posts into the ground because as you might imagine we kept hitting tree roots and so the posts kept twisting.  I have not been so cold as I was the day we spent putting this up.  What we thought would be quite simple took about three hours.  Coach bolts saved the day when the hand rail was attatched but because of the differing thickness of the down posts we had to keep running to the shops for bigger and bigger bolts.

An old friend pays a visit.
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This wonderful car paid us a visit last year.  It was of course brought here by our very good friend who ownes it.  The under gardener and I used this car 25 years ago on our wedding day.  The car has not changed a bit!

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A late afternoon of rare sunshine, June 2007

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The woodland garden on a perfect English summers day.

Yes that is a chimney pot you can see sticking out of the ground just before the bench.  There is another one a little further on too.  They were given to me by my sister when she was having the roof of her home replaced and the chimneys needed to be replaced too.  A talking point I think!

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This is a Dobie's favourite part of the garden for bunny hunting!

Just to the right of where the Dobie is standing we have built a hedgehog house out of logs and placed turfs on top as a "thatched" roof.  This little house is of great interest to a Doberman as bunnys live here too.

 

The Gravel Garden
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This fairly new addition to the garden was much commended by Roy Lancaster when he judged the garden for the Shropshire Star "Garden of the year" compeition.  It made quite an impact with many of the visitors to the garden this year and was the area of the garden we had the most questions about.

For the third year running we have entered "The best garden in Shropshire" competition.   We feel that this year, through to the  final was a very good achievement, however there are many aspects of the garden that are not "finished" and this holds us back.  This year, 2008, we achieved 3rd place and plans are in hand to "polish" aspects of the garden and try again next year.

a passion for a cottage and a  garden