After my visit to Karen’s I trekked round Lake Bala and across North Wales to Elizabeth’s.
When Elizabeth says she lives on a hillside she isn’t joking. The single track road to their house is very steep in places and I wondered how they coped when it snowed. The house is a very old farmhouse (which I forgot to photograph along with most of the garden) and you have to drive through the farmyard to get to it. The farm belongs to someone else but as Elizabeth has a self-catering cottage it is all very well signposted.
Elizabeth was quite apologetic about her garden which was completely unnecessary. There was no garden when they arrived 6 years ago and, like my garden, everything slopes. There is a very productive fruit and veg garden, a herb garden which Elizabeth has more plans for and what I would call a cottage garden (see photos above). However, there are two big problems with the site. Firstly the soil is very stoney so very free draining and given the lack of rain this year, even in North Wales, the soil is very dry. This really impacts on what can be grown successfully without endless watering. Saying that I thought the cottage garden was delightful and I loved the contrasting foliage textures. The other problem, and it wasn’t until Elizabeth pointed it out that it occurred to me there was a problem, is the view. It is stunning and big – huge hills, big skies. The view had been a leading factor in the house purchase so to hide it behind hedges and thick planting would be foolish but a bed that would look big and substantial in my suburban garden looks lost in Elizabeth’s.
The photo above is a poor demonstration of the scenery. I was so transfixed by it I forgot to take photos of the view, the house and most of the garden and only realised half way home – sorry Elizabeth – but you can see lots on her blog. They say you should work with the landscape so Elizabeth is exploring grasses and sweeps of annuals to pick up on the natural surrounding grassland. I think her plans sound fab but I think she needs to be brave and do them on a larger scale than she would have done at her last house so the scheme doesn’t get swamped by the view.
I was surprised to discover that Offa’s Dyke finishes just up the path from Elizabeth’s. It starts about an hour from my house and having done the long 3 hour drive it made me realise just how long the Dyke is and I was even more impressed that Elizabeth had walked the length of it 2 years ago. The area is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and therefore carefully maintained. This was very evident in the field of Harebells we saw which were just lovely.
So that was my short trip to North Wales. It was great to visit two friends and see their very different gardens, to chat, gossip and laugh. I came home feeling refreshed and clearer headed. Thanks Karen and Elizabeth.
