When we purchased Redmain House in 1993 it was not just the house that needed to be completely refurbished, the garden, totalling around 3 acres, had not been touched. It had been used as a dumping ground.  Ash and Sycamore trees had self-seeded everywhere and the dry stone walls were in a bad state of repair. The large field at the rear had been grazed by sheep and did not look in bad condition, but in its first year of non-grazing produced an enormous amount of weed.  In particular thistle and dock.

There was no alternative but to go around the 3 acres and remove them by hand. It was all I did that first year and it seemed to work as the following year there were very few that came back. However, I now had a problem with hogweed!  Hundreds and hundreds of them appeared everywhere.  As anyone will know hogweed has a long tap root, so digging them out was a long and difficult job and I simply could not do them all, so, of those I could not dig up I made

sure to cut off the tops so they would not seed.  It seemed like a good idea at the time (and it probably was) but it meant that the following year the taproot was twice as big and twice as difficult to get out!  I just kept at it for the next couple of years and finally got them under control, but they continue to pop up from time to time so I am still vigilant about getting them out!  The garden soil varies from very little soil over limestone at the top, to loamy in the vegetable garden

(mostly engineered) to thick clay and stone towards the house. I have tried not to impose too much on the natural landscape, returning the top 2 acres to meadow and planting the copse of trees on the slight hill, which has helped to stabilise the soil in that area. It is a natural garden designed to enhance the environment for all wildlife – as well as being beautiful I hope. It still amazes me sometimes, sitting in the garden watching the large number of birds that have made their home here – robins,

song thrushes, mistle thrush, great tits, treecreepers, nuthatches, bluetits, sparrows, woodpeckers, housemartins, wren, dunnock, finches and barn owls. We also see buzzards overhead, listen to the lilting call of the curlew and watch the kestrel dive for voles over the meadow.

One evening, at dusk, as I was walking Rosie the dog to the top of the field, I thought I saw a corncrake silhouetted against the long grass in the meadow. I couldn’t determine the colours as the setting sun was right behind it, but the outlines looked correct.

It disappeared back into the long grass and I haven’t spotted it since – but I keep looking! With fears for the declining numbers of bees, it is good to know that I have at least two bees nests in the garden, and I do enjoy watching them scramble in and out of their nests at the base of the big old sycamore trees. I have identified at least four different species here in the garden.

Now, in 2010, the garden is mature and how I envisaged it. Even though we own the freehold of this land, we only ever pass through but while we are here we very much enjoy sharing this beautiful place with everyone who comes to visit.