Monday 27 October 2008

Early Days at Wheatfield

There has been a house at Wheatfield since the 17th century. Pictured is a drawing of the house before the Second World War by John Moody.

I came to Wheatfield on the death of my mother-in-law over 40 years ago, but I didn’t start to garden seriously until the mid 1970s. The two and a half acre garden, although it may look old, has only been in its current form for 35 years.

The house, farm buildings and garden cover four acres, which when I arrived was mainly under grass. It consisted of a plantation of trees with daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops, which had naturalised beneath them. I understand these were planted by my husband's grandmother.

On the substantial lawn facing the house was a large birch tree, behind which was a bed of mixed rhododendrons, a couple of copper Prunus triloba, a large horse chestnut tree, a number of mixed conifers, plus a windswept ornamental crab apple tree. A laurel hedge divided the lawn from the field.

To the east side of the house were two beds divided by a path with three rose arches – one bed contained roses, the other herbaceous plants. A small rock garden was backed by a well kept Lonicera hedge.

To the left was, and still is, a cold greenhouse with a large vegetable garden behind it with soft fruit bushes. Nearby were a couple of white lilac trees and a large specimen of Crinodendron lanceolata. The orchard contained plum and apple trees, including 'Laxton Superb', 'Newtown Pippin', 'Morgan Sweet', a russet and one unidentified variety.

Pictured below is a view from the house today.



1 comment:

Stone Art's Blog said...

Looks like a fantastic place you have there, I love the old photos.