IN THIS GUIDE
At the start of April , I visited a private garden in Durham to reveal the story of a family who have transformed five acres of land into a thriving garden retreat .
Since settle on the belongings in 2013 , the Little family have devoted themselves to sculpting this expanse into a garden that dead suit their needs .
Over the span of just 11 years , they ’ve meticulously divide the distance into multiple garden areas and have establish an impressivetwenty - thousandtrees .
Joined by John , Claire , and their children , I had the exclusive right of touring their 5 acre garden .
Watch the video below or keep reading to regain out what they ’ve done with this huge amount of space !
Planting 20,000 Trees
“ We ’ve plant thousands of trees over the past 11 twelvemonth here at The Stables , ” shares John Little .
“ There ’s some larger specimen trees that we ’ve buy in , including a elephantine sequoia , some eucalypt and over 50 fruit tree down in the orchard .
“ We ’ve also got some red willows at the bottom of the paddock , which look courteous from the firm . They ’re not quite as bright at the moment as they can be , but in the wintertime when there ’s nothing else of coloring material in the garden , we can see them from the house shooting up like fire .
“ We ’ve also planted a range of native tree in a mixture of hedges and woodland surface area . ”
Exploring The Garden
“ Our two herbaceous borders , known as the bog mete and the Wendy border , were put in in 2020 during the pandemic , ” explains John .
“ It was all done no dig , so we put some cardboard down and cut through it in chip and grass cutting then planted it up in autumn .
“ There ’s all sorts of plants in here . We let stuff campaign it out , that ’s kind of the way we work . If it does n’t hold out , then it does n’t survive and we do n’t plant it again . ”
“ Our mounded sphere was train with some trees from the Woodland Trust , ” he continues .
“ Before we transform this space , it was overgrown with nettle and brambles , so we used lots of elbow joint grease and cleared it all off . The trees are now doing all the gruelling work for us , as they shade the earth off in summer to forbid grass from running savage .
“ We put in more interesting shade - tolerant plants , such as ferns , Hedera helix and comfrey and then decide we were going to build this span through , so we tunnelled out underneath to make a six - base interruption so you could walk underneath it .
“ Some people really love the railroad train bed we have in our garden that features a little model railway run through it .
“ We ’ve endeavor to recrudesce it with lots of small plants so there ’s a backdrop to the toy train and we ’re now extend it with a second bottom over to the other side .
“ We ’re also going to put a pool in at the front here with a stream coming through the gap between the two . ”
Opening The Garden Via The NGS
“ My parents opened their garden for the NGS just after I give university actually , so they ’ve been unresolved for 20 leftover years now , ” excuse John .
“ With our garden , we had the chance as it got to a worthy DoS to also open for the NGS so it just seemed a natural thing to do .
“ We have a go at it showing the great unwashed around the garden , we enjoy stimulate masses come in and see the outer space . The feedback you get from citizenry about how much they enjoy the garden is very rewarding . ”
The Stables is receptive through theNational Garden Schemeon the 23rd June 2024 .
