Our first real experience of the garden was in December 2017. The sun hid behind the hill no where to be seen and the garden fell still. Another month on and it appears again, casting a beautiful light through the trees and a warmth to the soil. It's invaluable to experience a garden in winter, you see it stripped back revealing its bare bones. In this case the garden was void of structure apart from a single Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena', the winter jewel. Apart from that the garden lay dormant until spring, a hunger gap that we will be addressing once the garden is ready.

 A walk downstream, getting to know the furthest reach.

The rest of the garden came to life when the woodland revealed itself, creating an impenetrable boundary that made the garden feel enclosed and alive. A Ribes sanguineum with a relaxed open habit had been positioned quietly alongside the old stone wall that formed part of the boundary, providing a striking display in April followed by the neighbouring apple blossom. A timber arch atilt with age created a narrow funnel to the main lawn, its appearance made pretty by both a Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll' and Lonicera periclymenum, laying tangled but in a state of romance.

 We felt fortunate to inherit a mature Wisteria floribunda 'Multijuga'. It stood unmanaged but healthy, willing to conquer the facade of the house. We gave it a prune in late January and trained it along some coppiced Hazel from the woodland as a temporary fix. It flowered beautifully that year. Further down the garden and behind an ever increasing hedge is the scattering of some existing fruit trees, the hedge now grown too tall and starving the apples of the direct sun they require. It will need to be reduced and the new fruit trees moved to warmer territory.