The Victorian Courtyard Garden
When Suzanne and her husband moved into their beautiful Victorian house fourteen years ago they inherited a very sunny courtyard garden. They remodelled both with a designer’s eye and stayed true to the spirit of the garden while introducing their own style of planting.
Shortly after moving in, we changed the layout of the whole garden area. Our daughters accused us of chucking out all the interesting bits, but we carried on regardless, introducing York stone paving and symmetrical beds bordered by dwarf box hedging.
The design has changed organically over the years and even now I am going to re-invent a couple of areas. If some plants don’t work well then after a period of time they are moved or replaced.
My husband and I look after the garden together. To be fair he does a lot of the unskilled labour, like going to the dump (which he rather enjoys for some reason).
Some of our favourite features include: the Coalbrookdale bench, rescued from a field in Wales. The galvanised tank planter, from our loft. The zinc oval planter, fearfully overpriced from The Chelsea Gardener. And our stone cat, chosen by our son as a kid, now adored by our granddaughters. Each has its own story. Also the Cornus Controversa we planted – a stunning Wedding Cake tree that’s difficult to get hold of. And, of course, the roses. The more the merrier!