Step into our Secret Courtyard Garden
…and how RHS Chelsea 2024 has inspired me to re-design it.
Behind a moss and ivy-covered historic flint and brick wall to the side of our front door, lies a secret little courtyard that hardly anyone knows is there. It’s hidden from the street scene by a soft variegated Pittosporum and flowering Photinia Red Robin, which have been grown and pruned over many years to look more like trees than shrubs. The sun’s dappled crepuscular rays stream through the pendulous twisted branches and delicate leaves, which dance across the wall, creating mysterious shadows. The leaves fall like confetti onto the uneven lichen-encrusted stone pavers, creating hiding places for tiny wildlife.
In the centre a narrow pool, some six feet long and one foot across is surprisingly deeper than one would imagine and is brimming with the palest yellow Irises the colour of a good lemon syllabub. They’re now in need of thinning and some tender loving care. An old, rustic stone bench sits parallel to it enticing the visitor to sit and hide for a spell away from a bustling, crazy world. It’s a little slice of heaven here on earth and I feel so incredibly lucky to call it ours for the time that we inhabit this earth.
To watch the first video of our secret courtyard garden shot on the day we bought our barn, find out which RHS Chelsea gardens have inspired my design and what I plan to do, a list of the planting schemes and two more videos shot and edited by me from The Chelsea Flower Show, please consider upgrading to a paid membership. The annual plan is by far the cheapest at only £0.94p a week.