Rural Estate & Gardens, Monmouthshire

YEAR

2023

LOCATION

Monmouthshire

CATEGORY

Design & Maintenance

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Gareth Edwards

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  • YEAR : 2023
  • LOCATION : Monmouthshire
  • CATEGORY : Design & Maintenance
  • CREATIVE DIRECTOR : Gareth Edwards
  • VISUALIZATION :
Clearing leaves in a kitchen garden and walnut orchard
Clearing leaves in a Walnut orchard

A Grade II* listed farmhouse dating from the 17th century, a backdrop of the Bannau Brycheiniog east of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire. 5 acres with kitchen garden, fruit orchard (apples, pears & plums), extensive Walnut orchard, lake, meadows and flower gardens. A further 15 acres with ambitious plans for vineyards and family areas.

New owners in 2022 keen to add a productive element to the well maintained gardens, providing ample year round fruit and vegetables for the young family. A derelict, enclosed kitchen garden, unused small field,  overgrown orchard and patchy flower beds provided a great potential for fulfilling the original ‘brief’.

A shorter growing season than some of our other gardens down in the balmy milder landscape of South Gloucestershire with thinner soils over a complex of sandstones & mudstones (St Maughans Formation). Challenging to get into production as soon as possible. The first project was the small rabbit fenced kitchen garden. Faced with bramble, couch grass, dock and thistle, flourishing on a thin soil, we decided on a minimum tillage approach – otherwise know as no-dig. Brushcutter and strimmer clearance, cardboard scavanged from wherever, deeply mulched with soil conditioner from a local supplier. Some success and some failures with the difficult conditions this year but the family have been enjoying the spinach, chard, kale, beans, fennel, carrot (yes, just the one) so a good first year. Planning on big improvements as the soil quality is built up. Some set backs with waterlogged ground, a year too cold for good seed germination, but a decent enough start.