This week we will have been in this house 37 years. When we bought it we left a 6 year old modern house and came to a 50 + year old tired house needing lots of TLC, but on viewing the house I not only saw potential in the interior but the garden was enormous. Now I say enormous but it wasn’t really, it was compared to the modern garden we had just left and the fact that both of us had been born and raised in old terraced houses in quite poor areas with no gardens just yards and outside privies.
So the joy of having space for small children to run, kick a ball and for Mr Malc to grow some veg was amazing. Over the years we have had pet rabbits in a run, climbing frames, cricket pitches, parties galore and a very special wedding.
Looking back at pictures now it seems unbelievable that I thought this space was ever so big.
This picture and the next one were taken probably a year after we moved in. Thoughts on the garden were the last thing on my mind then. See the shadow on the right, well that is a leylandi hedge running the length of the garden. We had no idea what we had taken on. They were our trees and we couldn’t wait to get rid, but it did take a few years to do so.
The back of the house, now this has a conservatory running the whole width of the back. This is our second one, as the first smaller wooden one started to rot so we replaced it with my beautiful plant room.
This is the footings for my greenhouse. You can also see the rabbit run and Mr Malc’s veg patch. All this disappeared when I got the gardening bug in the mid 80s. The area where the rabbit run was is now my tiny white garden. The veg patch is where the g/daughters play house was.
This picture and the next are about the early 90s. Just look at either side of the circle you can just make out the tiny box plants, well these are now more than a metre tall tree tier box balls. The leylandi are still here in this shot.
Still with leylandi, and looking towards the hedge from what is now my summer house and before the rill was put in to join the two ponds.
The view now from our bedroom window clearly showing the rill.
Views from around the garden, including the three tier box balls, the now crumbling fence which replaced the leylandi hedge, think the ivy is holding it up…. Now I’ve got a several of trays of plants to go in before we open…..mmmm can anyone see any space….?
So very beautiful are these pictures and very interesting to see the then and now transformation… Amazingly awesome garden place
Take care and happy blogging to ya, from Laura
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Thank you Laura , I am just going to Follow you… 🙂
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A grand tour, Sue. Thanks for the history…it makes the present more understandable. It looks like you are in for another beautiful garden year.
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I do hope so it’s been a while coming, health wise, and now I’m feeling fitter than I have done in 6 years…. hence the big push in the garden. Thank you .
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What an amazing transformation. You have done a wonderful job. Your garden is beautiful now.
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Thank you, well when the children were small there was no point in having delicate plants for footballs to snap….it was their domain. Now it’s all mine. 🙂
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Really interesting, you have made a wonderful garden from your blank canvas. I know you will find a space somewhere for those new plants ….. 🙂
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And then I went to the local G/C just to have a look round and what do I find…6 more scented pelargoniums that I hadn’t got… well they just had to come home with me…. and I don’t do garden centres normally… there really is no cure….. 🙂
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I think has got to the point of acceptance, there is no other option! 🙂
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It is lucky you have the pictures to prove it as it is a remarkable transformation. The garden can be such an important part of the family. Amelia
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Thank you …and it still does even now with our g/daughters who love to play ‘ make believe’ in the garden, with so many ‘fairy places’.. Sue
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how great to have a history in your garden like that and how wonderful to see how you have transformed it.
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Thank you and now with a new camera there will be even more….
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new camera is always fun
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How lovely to see your before, during and after pictures, Sue! I sometimes look at the photos of the blank space that was once our garden… You showed us some different views too – and I certainly don’t remember seeing the rill before. You have done a great job – well done 🙂
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Thank you Cathy… I have put a picture of the rill on before .. it was of Imogen playing in it when she was about 3. Hope you had a good holiday. Can’t think about going away until we have opened too much to organise…. 🙂
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Remind me of the date Sue….
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Hi Cathy,we are opening on the 13/14 June 1-00 till 5-00..would be good to meet up… Sue
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I found you by accident when not even blogging but trying to find some plants! what a nice surprise. I noticed in your April posts a yellow weedy thing like an orchid – I thought the same – very pretty and delicate (seen in the woods) and no idea what it is! Lovely to find someone who loves flowers so much and I have made myself an email follower. Betty
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What a wonderful trip through time and your garden. It certainly beautiful. New plants and a new camera – you are living right. 🙂
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