hendy - a garden

When the flowers are in bloom, the butterflies cover the branches;
When the flowers decay, the butterflies again are rare.
But there are the swallows in their old nest;
They return, however poor the master of the place.
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On a south facing slope at 700ft. in Mid-Wales, Hendy was a working farm of 70 acres until the 1950's. The farmhouse was then sold with about one and a half acres and had a succession of owners and was rented out or used as a holiday home. We bought it in 1981.
Apart from a pump to supply water from a distant well and a recently installed septic tank, the house had been untouched since the 50's. Outside, the range of stone and slated barns had become derelict, the oldest part having collapsed in 1950 and left as it had fallen.
There was no garden, just couch grass, docks and nettles. The ungrazed and undrained meadow below the house had received effluent from the farmyard for many years and was mainly rough grass, nettles and thistles.
Over the last twenty years or so, we have reused the large quantities of slates, bricks, old beams and stone to create a garden that is shared happily between humans and wildlife.Oh, and a few breeze blocks, cement, Chilterns Seed Catalogue, physical labour, help and plants from friends and family, and of course patience.

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