Building an Ark: plans for my East Devon Garden

Sometime in the midst of the pandemic, we as a family found the energy and drive to move from our hometown to a new space in Devon. Looking back now I wonder how on earth we did it, although I know really that it was driven by my gut and heart that were both telling me that it was time for us to try something new.

Whilst lockdown number one was challenging on so many levels (hello homeschooling whilst trying to also earn a living) it somehow gave me a clarity of mind that took me quite by surprise. As we were forced to slow our lives right down and pause, all the goals and ambitions that we had for last year and indeed our future were suddenly rendered impossible. And when that happens, when you’re stripped back to your bare bones, you can somehow take stock and make decisions that feel wholly right.

So that’s how, in September of last year, we ended up here in East Devon (obviously with a torrid time in between involving lawyers and estate agents that I shall never repeat again!). We’ve moved to a vast wooded valley pocketed with respectful farmers and their livestock and just minutes away from the Jurassic Coast line. To say it’s our dream is an understatement, there hasn’t been a day that hasn’t passed since we moved here, where we haven’t commented on how lucky we are to be here.

We are now custodians to a half an acre of land in this green valley, which is more than I ever could have dream of. When I was a child we grew up in a number of houses each with land, but when it came to investing in our own houses, where we lived land of any size was out of our price range and so for the past 10 years we had been living in the town centre with a town garden to match. I had spread my growing wings to our allotment which provided me with an incredible amount of knowledge and experience as a gardener and whilst allotments have so many positives, it is not quite the same as tending to your own land.

Before we moved I thought of all kinds of things that I would do with the garden once we were in. Cut flowers were a big focus and my head got lost in dreams of being a flower farmer. And then we arrived and with each day that dawned I found myself wanting to tinker with the land less and less. The land is mature, with the parameter flanked by mature trees while out front the house is bordered with a classic well developed Devon bank hedge. The land is mostly laid to lawn and this has been found to be full of the seedlings of wild flowers and grasses and now that the days are getting lighter and warmer the green spears of bulbs are popping up left, right and centre. The rhododendron and camellias are beginning to bloom just as the catkins on the hazel are beginning to drop.

And so I look around me at this beautiful space and wonder what is there that I need to do? Nature is doing her absolute best and it makes me question what my role is in the garden here besides marvelling at it for hours on end. Of course there are my business needs, I rely heavily on the flowers I grow and dry and so for that I have built up three no dig raised beds for growing flowers to dry at the far end of the garden. These will be used mainly for growing annuals and biennials and sit alongside our vegetable patch which existed before we arrived.

Then there is the main flower bed area that had been created by the previous owners. It is positioned with big oppressive granite edging in a hexagon shape which is at odds with the whole rest of the space, incredibly. functional for an area that is entirely natural. So I plan on digging those out and expanding this area to include a few apples trees, naturalised bulbs such as fritillary, crocus firefly and tulip sylvestris and a section of a perennial planting inspired by Pied Ouf. I have a feeling that the land may need a nudge to be a seasonal space rather than Spring wow and what I love about this matrix style planting is the way the designs can take you all the way through Winter with the structural seedhead and grasses that stay in place. Perennials also provide brilliant options for dried flower displays so the space will have additional benefits. This space will also serve as a way to break up the garden and to provide intrigue and mystery between the various spaces, something I believe is really important.

My favourite section of the garden is out the front and this is where I believe I will be spending much of my time. There’s a thin flower beds alongside the path to our front gate and these are already full with native shade tolerant plants such as foxgloves, hellebores and primroses. The variety of bulbs appearing from the nutrient soil is astounding and I’m going to leave this area to be for at least a year to work out if I need to enhance it in anyway.

And all the time I spend in the garden I ask myself, how do I want to feel when I’m here? What spaces do I want to create and how I will utilise them? And how can I ensure that I work with nature and not fight against it. These questions are as important and asking yourself how you want your garden to look. Because gardens are emotional spaces, places to be enjoyed and savoured and with too much focus on just the looks, well we all know where that can lead us don’t we?

If you too are interested growing and developing an ark, a garden which supports and enhances the natural world then I would highly recommend reading The Gardening Awakening by Mary Reynolds, her work and approach has inspired me hugely. I shall continue to share my journey with this space here and on social media, as she unfurls her beauty before me!