Laurie's Garden Tour

One last look out over the fields

And we are home - the pitch to the left is the oldest part - 16th century, and still fully functional with surprisingly little changed from the original structure. Well, except that the ground floor would have been a barn for keeping animals, there would have been no fireplace originally cooking was probably done in an outside lean-to, or on the dirt floor on the ground floor. The big fireplace was added in about 1750, when they built the barn and moved the animals out - can't you just imagine the conversations: "Henry, either those pigs go or......", or "I've just bought you a new range for Christmas!" Actually, it must have been such a luxury! Otherwise the rooms are not too different. The pitch on the right is only about 30 years old - the previous owners extended the house adding a new kitchen (until then it had stayed in the same room from the time the chimney was put in), another bedroom, and a second bathroom. The room I showed at the opening was built between the Wars.

And so we begin the garden.

I've now got to gather together the photos for the next part.

I'm so glad you've enjoyed the walk. Your comments have been flattering, and interesting, and alot of fun. (Hope everyone is warm now)

Pix, I'm very interested in what you said about Americans and gardens being separate from the landscape. I need to give that some thought. I don't know if seeing it as part of the landscape is particular to me, or whether that is a national characteristic - it may be a bit of both. Certainly here, meaning my garden, the views we have would be almost impossible to ignore - they are very much part of the setting of the house and garden. I think also the fact that we do own the land that surrounds us influences that too - to not want the garden to be separate from the land. However, having said that, using 'borrowed' views in landscape design has traditionally been a feature of many English gardens (my neighbour, whose house is separate from their fields has done that extensively - and it works very well). I need to think about that.

So I will leave you with this picture for tonight, and begin to gather together the others. TTFN

Oh I had so much fun, totaly enjoyed it. I can just see having a picnic and a swim and here comes bossy and all her friends. Runnnnnn.
Warm again, Love it

Oh, Tills, I was so worried about you out there shivering. Come in and get another cuppa!

Thank you again Laurie. What a lovely walk that was, love the stream and the 'local'. I'm out of breath from walking the hills I think it would be a fair assumption that you have very strong legs and good lungs.^_^ The last picture is beautiful! Can hardly wait for the rest of the garden.

Sis...I knew you'd love it.

Thank you I will.
I got goosebumps looking at each pic. so wonderful.
Can't wait for the rest of the tour. Got to go back and look at them again.
Hugs

Definitely worth a second look!

We have on occasion allowed horseback riders across our property (before it was planted in that area) and now we have huge pot holes where the horses' hooves dug in. So much for that experiment! LOL

Laurie, I love your house. I'm so glad that you gave the history with it, makes it all that much more interesting. To find anything that old around here, you usually have to excavate 10' down in the ground and it might be as exciting stone bowl. I was really excited about 5 years ago when I was digging a hole for a plant and I found a 1918 heinz mustard jar, intact, about a foot down. So, you can only imagine what I would think of your place there!! In fact, if I were to ever visit, you would'nt have to entertain a bit. Just let me help in the garden so that I could go around digging to see what old stuff I could find. You could go around planting things where I had dug! It would be fun.

OHHH, I just found this thread. I, too, have enjoyed the history and the countryside walks. Absolutely invigorating!!! Thank you

Just lovely!! What wonder it must be to have those fields to walk across. What a way to start and end the day. But where are the sheep?? Should there not be sheep grazing??
Also what wonders to live in a home where people have lived for hundreds of years. My family lived in a home built in the 1700's back on the east coast on Staten Island. We had that house for 4 years, which was really long by my family's standards. I loved it so much. There were plenty of ghosts in the house, some of which were nice, but I just loved the worn feeling of the wooden stairs and the handrailing, knowing that so many other hands had held onto it. Have you ever done any research on the original owners of the home, more than what you've already posted?

To extend my thoughts on the isolation of american gardens a bit, the 'borrowed view' is mentioned in quite a few gardening books but many times that view is over a fence - such as my using the neighbor's tall trees as a backdrop for my own plantings, or loving that I can see their pink dogwood in full flower in the spring. But in my area it is generally a view of another's planting, not a vista of countryside. Perhaps other places in the US. are different, considering the size and scope of this country. And I think that few people have the landscape necessary to really give credence to using transitional plantings, say between forest and field for instance.

Being a lover of all things English, I am loving this whole thread. Laurie, your views are just stunning.

Is the village on the ridge where you do your shopping or is there another that you visit? What kinds of shops do they have in that village?

Love your tour Laurie! I'd love a tour of the inside of your house as well. You wouldn't even need to tidy up. I'm certain it's wonderful. I live in an old farmhouse that is 104 years old, but just a babe compared to yours.
Your old exposed tree roots on the road remind me of a fairy woodland. I'm sure some faeries must live there maybe even with distant relatives of Pixy's gnomes.
Can't wait for more.

3 cuppas & a nice brisk walk warms the soul (& hands) well.
Very restful: love the velvet fields & hills, Laurie. Reminded me of my English touring adventures in 1975. Fun stuff.
In was, in fact, where I met a kind lady who invited me into her gardens while she was working them. We had such a wonderful time chatting, & towards the end, she looked me in the eye as if she was searching the depths of my heart, and pronounced with extreme certainty that I MUST garden because it was what I was created to do!
When a wee elder looks you in the eye like Mother Superior & appears the height of Goliath - I heed their words! She was right, of course, and she knew it.
I always wished to go back years later & tell her I did just that. She was the dibble to the seed in my heart.
And exquisite gardens she had - but they were strictly for her enjoyment, as she told it.
Sigh, & back to the reality of winter...

How wonderfully put, Katye.

Back for my second walk, just as lovely. Walking among the trees, especially by the stream, I kept waiting for Robin Hood to come dashing out. Or to see some wood nymphs or fairies, just a magical place.

Thistle, I'll be wanting a tour of your home as well! Mine was built in 1992. LOL I would kill to live in a home with some history. I think this is why I have always been attracted to the east coast as well as England. There just are not that many old houses here in the west.

To me older homes just have so much character. And I like the styles so much better, normally. I do content myself with the knowledge that many older homes are cold and drafty. I feel better when I remind myself of that. LOL

Laurie, I love that fireplace in the first pic. What kind is it? Does it have a name? Another reason I like older homes is that they have so many fireplaces. To me, the number of fireplaces in a home is key. It's one of my first questions. If I were filthy rich and building my own home, every room would have a fireplace. Some might even have two!

I'm just in love with all the lanes you have around your house as well as the hedgerows dividing the fields and whatnot. I like that patchwork kind of look it gives the countryside.

Jan23, welcome to the thread. As you can see, PNW has a very flexible designated area - so hopefully, you too will take a turn creating a garden tour. I'm sure all of us will be more than happy to examine, exclaim, admire, and suggest in detail on a NJ garden! Welcome.

Working back up the list:
Gwen, you are right - old houses are fab, but isn't it funny how we all hanker after something else - I absolutely long for an uber-modern, ultra minimalist house - loads of glass over looking the Chilean coastline. Given the opportunity, the truth is, I have said 'nooooooooooooo, can't give this up'. So, in some ways I think yearning for architecture is one of those lovely lovely fantasy, like imagining 'if Geo Cloney met me.....', well you know. As far as drafty, I actually find those a blessing. My DH's idea of heavan is to fire up the woodburner enough to roast potatoes on the sofa and deplete all oxygen. If it weren't for the drafts I would instantly fall asleep everytime I sat down to read. The fireplace is a funny story - and I definately do not reccommend doing this - we found this house, feel in love and started negotiating. I went to an auction, saw that fireplace and instantly knew it would fit that space (there was a ghastly little repro something or other, much to small for that space) - I bought the fireplace and stored it in the hallway of our house until we moved. Thank goodness it worked out, it takes 3 men and a lot of grunting to move the thing - its lead lined on the back. No maker name, Edwardian period. I think the faeries knew it would be mine. DH just tolerates all things Laurie. Very good man. We do shop in Burwash, there is a grocers, a butchers, we just lost our farrier (he is in the next village now), a gallery, newsagents, hairdresser, florist, and three pubs. Also a lovely church, scout hut, and a great health centre.

Katye, that is a lovely story - I'm not sure how I got interested in gardening, just one day I realized that I had my own trowel and a load of potted plants in London. Onward and upward from there. I do know that Goliath effect that wee English ladies can have.

Pix, it is true, I just marvel everyday that I am there, that no one asks for the keys back. I don't think a day has gone by (or at least not many!) when I don't stop and just bask in the great good luck I have had - my work, my DH, my home - I can't ever remember in earlier years ever imagining this outcome, but here it is. And I do cast a lot of genuine thank you to the stars each night. Just to stand in the land, it is a marvel. But I think most of us on this thread share that. Its nice. We do have a file that the previous owners did on who owned the house and when. What I find interesting is whether the listing is just the man's name, and when it is husband and wifes name. There have been some good generous families here. I know what you mean about ghosts - but I always have that feeling that this is a house who has only known contented people. That's my fantasy, and I'm sticking to it.

Thistledown, I'm looking forward to seeing a 104 year old American Farmhouse - another period of architecture I fancy living in, right alongside my chilean uber-moderne.

Redchic - I know what you mean about digging things up - we are very lucky that farmers just desginated an area the tip, and there you find allsorts of Heinz bottles - I've come up with several ink bottles, putnam's paste, and several medicine bottles along with loads of shards of blue and white pottery, several pieces of cutlery, a decanter top, one ice skate and......well it goes on and on. And guess what - I keep all of it. Another thing DH tolerates.

Sally and Tills, you dilligent souls, 2x around - I'm going to have to find you some really good spots so you can sit and rest a bit. I'll bring you a glass of something refreshing.

Now I must get back to the tax returns, so I will leave you with this - this is my desk, and surprise, look what is on the screen - back later.

One of you photohounds: why are all of my photos doing that pixel crinkle? I'm only stepping them down once - I definately need a new camera. Fed up with this one. Any opinions on the Canon EOS450D?


This message was edited Jan 6, 2009 3:46 PM

What I have discovered about our garden is that it has become a garden of paths. I'm not quite sure how it became this, it certainly wasn't when we moved here. It was a garden of bulky areas. Its pretty big - the cultivated area is about 1 acre, and most of this was laid to a big lawn. There was also a big area of daffodils that was yuk the rest of the time. A big area that was just fenced and fairly scraggy pasture. A long border that was 18" from front to back. Some extremely big rhodos of the purpley old lady variety. Everything was big and clunky, and largely out of date. The previous owners were not gardeners. They loved the house and land, but plants didn't seem to come into it. I spent the first 2 years working on the vegetable garden, a little intimadated to do much to the front decorative area - everyone referred to the house as 'the Harcourts old place', and they still drove by and stopped in to check on it. (Funny, saying that reminds me that the house we had before this the owners did that too. Considering I'm the constant... well, skip that). Then one day, I started cutting down and digging up, with zero plan. I just had to take ownership.

I want to start the tour at the barn, and then follow round the paths - this is a view of the area we are going to go through first - ignore the field area in front of the fence, on the left side is what I call the wild area and to the right you can just make out the barn, the greyish building. The house (reddish) is behind the barn in this shot. The lane is further toward the right. To get a scale of the area there is about 4'6" between fence posts.

This message was edited Jan 6, 2009 4:12 PM

this is a better photo of the wild area, but I wanted you to see where the barn is in relation to this area. there are a beautiful pair of oaks at the bottom (Caspar and Pollux), and at the upper end is a patio area called the Drinking Bench.

So as we leave the front gate, the path is paved with a combination old brick laid tightly on sand, with stone steps (and I do mean stones - just big stones, that don't move) - this is the bed immediately at the gate, obviously taken at a different time of the year - it seems a bit of a moot point to show you frozen dirt. I love the planting here, especially the combination of Heuchera Cyclindrica Brown Finch (which I know a couple of you now have), and Verbascum Phoenicium Violetta - they balance each other out and somehow enrich each others colour.

We cross infront of the barn, and this come to the first path that I specifically set out to make. This was a completely forgotten area - the two big oaks were just background to the barn, and the only time I ever came down here was to collect wood or to go to the big compost bins. The slope was treacherous, and poooooor DH ended up flat on his back in the mud a few times to often. Not a happy man. There were overgrown dense rhodos on the left and muddy grass with the saddest hydrangeas you have ever seen - leggy, half dead, and surrounded by wire cages - I don't know why I left it so long. So out it all came, and the landscape guy and I started one of those conversations where more is said with your hands "well, I think I want it to....(hand movement)", and he says "right, I get it goes like this...(hand movement)", I smile, he nods and this is how it came out - perfect. We refer to this as the Moraine Path - a tad grandiose, but....

This is another plant combination that I love - crocosmia with persicaria opulifolia diablo.

And here is the front, complete with he who must be obeyed.

And for those of you who are going to ask to see inside

I just need to back up a bit - this is a much better photo of the verbascum/heuchera combination - just found it in another file -

Wow, I've been lagging behind trying to keep up because I started the second half of the tour late. Too much tea I suppose. I got side tracked at the picnic site and the river, sorry. It's all just so beautiful. I find myself forgetting time and just dawdling along. I am mesmerized by the surrounding vistas, I would find it very hard to leave such a lovely place.

I love old homes, so fully of personality. I have tried for years to talk DH into inhabiting one... no luck. Just getting him out of the city has been tricky. I like your plant combinations, someday when I have a garden I'll have lots of great ideas thanks to this thread.

Still looking for the photo of across the field from the Loggia, but in the meantime - the path infront of the loggia has a smallish bed, and then a grass path, bordering the damp bed - this was the planting last summer - I have to say I was really pleased with this, but alas, so were the slugs!! they just decimated the lobelia, and then went for the Zantedesca (spelling?) - the ligularias always end up 'lacy' - so, some rethinking may be inorder. But it still looked good then.

ladybugfan - the nice thing about virtual tours is you can really do it in your own time - so nice. You are welcome to lag, go back, skip some - anyway you want.

Laurie, is that my glass I left, so sorry I should have put it in the sink before I left. My apologies. I love your dogie he looks like he obeys LOL.
So love your combos and the path. gives me more of a incentive to create more in woodland. Got to find some of those plants, some I have. But maybe not in the right place or the right mix.

Katye, Loved your story. My dad gave me the gift to be a gardener, and I followed his path.

Laurie, Your place is absolutely wonderful! I think that it is the country home and garden that most dream of. Such character in your furniture as well. I'm glad that i'm not the only one who seeks out lost treasures in the dirt! I always what the story is of how they got to be there. Like an ice skate, there where you are? Does it actually get cold enough, for long enough, for ponds or lakes to freeze that solid in a 9b zone? If only you could find the missing piece of the puzzle some day. The house that I live in is young (especially compared to yours!), but there were houses here in the early 1900's, dozed and planted over in the early 40's. Nothing was built in the area again until 2000. Anyhow, what I find is remnants from those dozed buildings. Most of the time it's just broken crud. But I have the most fun when I find things, intact, that I have no idea what they are. It's such a challenge to find folks who have a great memory for the little trinkets that most folks never paid attention to!

What I've found in the soil:
an underground spring
Spud Rocks
a well-charred set of Felcro pruners, sans red handles
a large rawhide bone that came unwound - looked like a gigantic tapeworm.

Katye Wow, those are some interesting finds!
There's a lot that you could do with your spring or maybe already have. Have you had it tested?
Were the pruners beyond repair? it sounds as if they were, which is really unfortunate.
That bone, I'm surprised that it doesn't break down more on its own. I don't know what a spud rock is, I'll have to look that up.

Maybe you have an idea for a new mini thread someday Katye.
It would need a catchy title meaning the interesting things that we find while digging the garden. I'm looking at one right now. I'll post a picture and see how long it takes someone to figure it out.

All I ever find here is golf balls. In seattle I lived on top of some kind of auto repair or junk yard. Found all kinds of stuff. I liked the carborator cups things.

This was one that I had a hard time figuring out what exactly it's purpose was.

Spud rocks - well, they are rocks that look like baking taters! I gotz lotz!

Spring - my property has a very deep well. I believe that a very long time ago, this property was covered by the adjacent lake. There are natural springs all around it, so it wasn't unusual, just surprising: dig & water comes out. Of course, i had a similar episode last summer when I hit the well line. It didn't help that I started laughing real hard - looked like something on a cartoon!

The rawhide bone was truly an "ewwwwwwww" moment.
This cream-coloured thing would not yield to the shovel point, so I reached into the hole & grabbed it bare-handed to pull out. Oh the shock! Felt like a flattened slug - cold & clammy. And my mind went from logic to total fantasy: enormous terrestrial tapeworms!

Mini-thread: this size not available in the PNW forum.
We did have a great one about breakfast cereals which morphed into Cartoons.
Or vice-versa. More fun stuff!!!

Willow, your place near the junk yard definitely sounds as if it had interesting things to find.

Katye, you're right. It definitely would have been funny to see you hit the well line. Hopefully you were able to get it stopped quickly though! That rawhide..... yep, ewwwwwww......!

oh - forgot to say that the unwound rawhide bone was probably about 10" wide, and about 3' long. I've not given one to my dogs after that episode.

Oh my...the power was out for a day and now I must run through the woodlands and across the pastures to catch up. It is lovely fresh air though a bit bracing at this time of year. There's the neighbor's sheep who wants me to rub her ears. So funny!

That pampas grass with the plumes glowing and the darker hills beyond is spectacular. The trees of the wild area, some bare branches and others with colored leaves still hanging on lends a sense of time and the slow turning of the seasons. Then it is so cozy to come back in and warm up by the fire and see your lovely old desk in the office. Warmed up again, it's back outside down the curving path to the front of the room in the barn. That looks like a peaceful hideaway. I love how you use the colors of leaves and flowers, kind of like painting.

If you would like to see an 'old' American farmhouse (well quite young compared to the architecture surrounding you), here is a picture of one from the civil war era, so more like 150 years old. It is in Michigan, and has many fond childhood memories for me, being in a place my family visited often at a cooperative camp on a farmstead. The dining hall is in this building, the music room, library, and also dorm rooms and the infirmary upstairs.



This message was edited Jan 6, 2009 10:29 PM

Oh, you have beams on your ceilings - sooooo jealous!

What is a farrier? Burwash sounds fabulous. Glad to see there's the right percentage of pubs to stores!

In the Moraine path photo - what type of weeping trees are those? That area is just stunning, btw.

Tills, LOL about the glass comment. Laurie, what is that building and what do you use it for? Is it attached to the house or separate?

Redchic, Dh and I hope to end up in your area one day so will need recommendations on the best places to look to live - now that you know I want a place just like Lauries, you can start looking for me!