PROJECT COMPLETED 19th October 2021

During 2021 it became clear that is was becoming more of a chore, than something enjoyable, to maintain the garden for visitors, especially from the watering perspective, which could take 5 hours from start to finish, if watering the whole garden at once, as there were so many containers of annuals every year.

I decided to look at a way of maintaining interest in the garden, whilst drastically reducing the number of containers, over 300 across the garden as a whole but with a heavy concentration on the back patio with, mostly, summer annuals.

The plan was to create a sunken garden at the rear of the house by digging out the area on the left side of the garden and creating a Mediterranean area with drought tolerant plants and shrubs and collection of succulents. While doing this, the raised wooden beds alongside the rear of the house and around the central steps were rotting so a decision was taken to remove them as well and create more brick/old railway sleepers edged features.

The small patio by the green folly door was extended to meet the rear of the dug out area which is secured, unusually, with old railway sleepers on end.

See a 3-minute, time lapse, film created by the National Garden Scheme of the project from start to finish by clicking above.

Scroll down to base of page and work back up to see the all the work from start to finish or see the short film below. It was completed in 10 days in October.

However, to start with, below are 3 images of the area as to how it looked before work began and an image of Summer 2021 and Autumn 2021 taken from the same spot!
View along patio from left in 2020 View from office 2019 View along patio from right in 2019

A brass plaque marks the spot where a time capsule was buried beneath the patio, containing the list of items shown below!

DAY 11 OF PROJECT: COMPLETED

Check out the 2 minute film of Day 11 on You Tube above and the 3 images below.

DAY 10 OF PROJECT

Check out the 2 minute film of Days 9 & 10 on You Tube above and the 6 images below.

DAY 9 OF PROJECT

No video today as little change, rain stopped early progress, just laying remaining patio slabs and grouting yesterdays work.

DAY 8 OF PROJECT

Check out the 1.5 minute film of Day 8 on You Tube above and the 6 images below.

DAY 7 OF PROJECT

Check out the 2 minute film of Day 7 on You Tube above and the 6 images below.

DAY 6 OF PROJECT

Check out the 2 minute film of Day 6 on You Tube above and the 12 images below.

DAY 5 OF PROJECT

Check out the 2 minute film of Day 5 on You Tube above and the 15 images below.

DAY 4 OF PROJECT

Check out the 3.5 minute film of Day 4 on You Tube above and the 15 images below.
With a couple of days wait for the sleepers to arrive I managed to paint the back of the house before the sleepers and patio were laid. The 50 railways sleepers were delivered ready for the transfer to the back garden, which was a mammoth task in itself getting them up the sloping drive.

From this to that in 3 days work!

DAY 3 OF PROJECT

Check out the 2 minute film of Day 3 on You Tube above and the 6 images below.

DAY 2 OF PROJECT

Check out the 4 minute film of Day 2 on You Tube above and the 9 images below.

DAY 1 OF PROJECT

Check out the 3 minute film of Day 1 on You Tube above and the 9 images below.

BELOW, PREPARATION COMPLETED IN THE LEAD UP TO WORK COMMENCING ON 2ND OCTOBER 2021

This included removing the wooden raised beds around the central steps, which were beginning to rot and needed regular watering. The net result was exposing the lovely curved steps I'd had installed 10 years ago!

Three images above taking the back patio apart and removing containers.

Three images above removing the wooden raised beds to the right of the central steps

Three images above removing the wooden raised beds to the left of the central steps

Brick steps and edges of patio revealed again in all their glory above,
having been covered over 7 years ago.

Three images above of the gravelled area on the left of the garden being cleared ready to be dug out.

Three images above of the raised bed behind the house being dug out and shrubs potted up to be used in the new space.

Above an image of the patio and gravelled area ready for the digging out to start with the mini digger!

Three images above of the many plants that have been dug up and containerised until they can be repositioned in the new look area.