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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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The Wall Project



Apparently there is an issue with Blogger and photos are not showing up. They are working on the issue.

 So, the above photo that you probably cannot see at the moment, is one of the wall project. We've had some really nice days to work on it. I am ready for it to be over. It is a project that I wish I had hired a professional to do. I am just not cut out for this type of work! Thankfully, the wall will be stuccoed and painted to hide the imperfections (and there are many!)


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax!April 20, 2020 at 12:15 PM

    I hadn't realised blogger is having picture problems. A picture vanished from one of my recent posts so I replaced it. I thought it must have been something to do with the way I'd loaded it. Though come to think of it I have visited one blog today where ALL the photos had gone. Yours, fortunately, is here. That wall looks as if it has an impressively regular curve. Hard work. Well done.

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  2. Lisa at GreenbowApril 20, 2020 at 12:50 PM

    I can see your photo Phillip. Most of the pictures left my blog too. That is so annoying.
    Your wall looks great from here. I know it will be wonderful when you finish. Can't wait to see what color and how high you make it.

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  3. Lisa at GreenbowApril 20, 2020 at 12:51 PM

    I just looked at the photo again. Is that wall serpentine? I sure looks like it. No wonder it is so difficult.

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  4. Hoover BooApril 20, 2020 at 1:33 PM

    I can see your wall. I am impressed and amazed you took it on as a DIY project. I'd be hopeless at masonry. What is the tree to the left of the wall? An Acer palmatum? Lovely dainty, graceful!

    Also like the rubber duckies in the water.

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  5. Gardener on Sherlock StreetApril 20, 2020 at 2:50 PM

    I can see this one! Keep at it!

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  6. chavlinessApril 21, 2020 at 7:33 AM

    The photos from GBBD are visible today (weren’t a few days ago), as is today’s “teaser “photo. Not sure what flaws you see in this major undertaking. The wall looks pretty darn fabulous to me.

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  7. danger gardenApril 21, 2020 at 9:22 AM

    Back when our patio and retaining wall was going in Andrew and I thought we'd build the wall ourselves. The first trip to Home Depot for supplies and we abandoned that idea and hired professionals (we did put in the patio ourselves). Our wall wouldn't have lasted the first winter I'm afraid (or maybe our marriage wouldn't have lasted the wall construction?). On the other had your wall looks amazing! You (and Michael) should be proud.

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