AUGUST 2006
NOVEMBER 2006
The house sits fairly centrally in the plot; we are bounded by fields to the North, East and South and a lane to the West. We are lucky in that the Northern boundary has a mixture of Privet, Conifers and Holly and a Beech hedge within the garden that helps filter the wind, on the Eastern side is a mixed hedge of Hazel and Hawthorn which is very overgrown at this time, bordering the lane is a lovely mature beech hedge along with scruffy lilac and a huge Leylandii and to the South more Leylandii. Too many of them and all having been planted, we later found out, in the 1970’s, possibly never having been clipped at all judging by the size of them. They were planted in a double row, interspersed with a couple of Silver Birch and Oak. Great fun for the children playing hide and seek among the trees but although they provided a complete screen and windbreak they made the house very dark. Some had to go…
A tree surgeon was called in and made short work of taking down the first few trees which made a huge difference. One went from the front boundary and all of a sudden we could see out and the world and their dog could see in! We were left with a big pile of logs, another of chippings and a lovely big space.
Next priority was to make the boundary secure and this we did with woven hazel hurdles to give a degree of privacy while the new beech hedge grew. The bare root beech plants looked very unpromising, as thin as a pencil and barely 18 inches high. In they went though protected with plastic rabbit guards
Tales from a Country Garden 