Mining for Change...

This marks the magic boundary, where cottage and garden will converge, to create a space with a vista that we hope future generations will enjoy.

Valley Garden Paradise is both a joy and our passion.  Being custodians of this gentle valley, its wildlife, flora and fauna, invites challenge and creativity.  How to best manage the sloping hillsides, the natural watercourse, deer, pheasants, slow-worms and bees?  How to seamlessly integrate the whole, a fusion that will enable us all to live here in harmony? From a flowerbed showcasing the passionate flamenco of Crocosmia Lucifer with statuesque Sambuca Nigra:

To the shape shifting creation of a garden room and terrace, a spot to sit and contemplate the landscape anew...

As I sit here, a baby bee impatiently buzzes, asking me to open the kitchen window; she's blown off course and now she's in a hurry to get home in time for tea!

The Fourth Week of Creation

As the garden begins to show her blooms, delicate leaves being tempted to unfurl in the spring sunshine, the garden is simply a 'Tale of Two Aspects'

To the north, under the watchful eye of the white rabbit, a stream of violet iris meander through the Rose Nevada towards explosion of Roserie de la Haie.  Little Reader, is caught between two worlds, her tiny frame inviting us to stop awhile in nature's magical wonderland.  Quietly, she observes the construction of vibrant yellow scaffolding slopes, access points for her new neighbours: the dumper, the digger and the rock breaker.   A new footprint is emerging, created with the power of a machine and strengthened with a sea of concrete, in time this will mark the point where the garden and cottage become one.

All Change...

It's all change here at Valley Garden Paradise; after over a year of planning, today saw the beginning of 'Project Garden Room'.  A space to sit year-round, immersed in the beauty of the natural world.

Without doubt, the next eight months will be a seismic shift for all involved: the house, the animals and for us too.  VGP now resembles a theme ride at Alton towers, with a black run ski slope for the digger and dumper to access a Scalectric track of scaffolding that will form a vernacular railway into the rock face for the excavation.  It feels like we are living on the set of an action movie, now we simply await the arrival of Harrison Ford!

Having re-homed our stunning roses: The Nun, Odyssey and Burgundy Ice, in the white wood behind the bees, we took a deep breath and watched the digger excavate a trench for the footings of the first retaining wall.  The appearance of the water main surprised us all, the digger head inadvertently severing the pipe and producing an unexpected extra, a waterfall and trench shaped pool!

Without doubt, there's no going back...  Time for a walk through the garlic scented bluebell wood taking a moment to simply stop and stare, remembering that next week, under the Taurus new moon, our new chapter begins.