A FLURRY OF SNOWDROPS
Like something out of a fairytale, the O’reilly’s garden is a warren of beautiful, snowdrop adorned trails, rose arches and a trickling stream
With paths that twist and turn through dustings of White flowers, Margaret and hugh o’reilly’s thatched cottage garden is an enchanting place to take a Wander
Up and down, up and down. I will lead them up and down.’ A quote from A Midsummer Night’s Dream seems a fitting way to describe this delightful Hertfordshire garden. Indeed, from the front, Elia Cottage appears almost untouched by the modern world and, opening the front door onto the country track, you would hardly bat an eyelid to see a passer-by dressed in Shakespearean garb. Tucked behind the thatched cottage is a garden full of drama, art and intrigue. The unique site leads down to a dip and then up the hill again, and it is at the top of this hill that Oberon, Titania and more of the Bard’s characters have been known to gather.
‘A few years ago, we built a stage at the top of the hill, put on Shakespeare plays such as ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and sold tickets for charity,’ explains Hugh.
‘Over the years we’ve lived here, Margaret has used the garden to raise thousands of pounds for local charities and is constantly coming up with fundraising ideas.’
Margaret is a woman with great vision and artistic flair. When she first viewed the house over 30 years ago, it was the garden that grabbed both her attention and that of her son Luke, then a toddler. ‘My son asked me if there were fairies here – and the garden continues to bring out that sense of adventure in visiting children,’ she says. ‘I had never before seen a garden where the terrain went up and down like this, and it presented a challenge that I was eager to take on.’
‘At one point this farm labourer’s cottage would have boasted a lovely plot but by the time we arrived, both house and
What we love most... ‘I love the common snowdrop and have no desire to plant some more unusual types. It’s been a joy to watch our garden naturalise over the years’
garden were in desperate need of attention,’ recalls Hugh, a retired printer. When the garden is open to the public, the couple display images of the plot as it was before they transformed it. The site has been tamed and is beautifully maintained, yet offers a sense of adventure and freedom. Look carefully and you’ll find lanterns, old picture frames, a wooden grass snake and many other well-placed features and recycled items. ‘Margaret brought the green bench at the top of the garden back from the tip and after a lick of paint it was almost like new,’ says Hugh.
As you step into the garden, you can’t see the entire plot, leaving you eager to explore. There is nothing formal about the space and the journey from top to bottom is different every time. With more than one route around the garden, several people can set out from the back door at the same time and journey up to the end of the garden without ever crossing paths.
The area outside the back door is home to pots of pansies and polyanthus. ‘I love my pansies but, being surrounded by fields, the mice venture from their rural retreats to come and nibble them,’ says Margaret. ‘Joining the pots is winter flowering witch hazel that I recovered from a skip.’ Just below the house is a summer house with a clock on the roof. Margaret has decorated the inside with her paintings, drawings and floral arrangements, creating for herself the perfect spot to plan her next fundraiser or planting scheme.
In summer, the garden is billowing with cottage garden plants and the paths are almost impossible to pick out thanks to the bounty of flowers. In the winter, snowdrops, hellebores and
What makes this garden so special... ‘This garden has allowed us to raise money for causes close to our hearts, which has bought us and others a lot of happiness’
crocuses steal the show. The garden is transformed from a cottage garden to a woodland garden almost as if by magic. Many of the trees, such as the Cornus florida ‘Eastern flowering dogwood’ and amelanchier ‘Shadbush’, and hedges are now mature and offer shade to the woodland plants.
Margaret has added to the forest feel by creating log steps that are infilled with chipped bark. ‘As the garden goes down and up and is west facing, it can be a frost pocket,’ she says. ‘Therefore, everything here must be hardy. When we moved here, there were only a few snowdrops and crocuses but, over the years, they have naturalised along with the hellebores.’
As you head down the narrow paths and steps, you discover a mini bridge, reminiscent of Monet’s garden at Giverny, that looks as if it is crossing a stream. ‘The stream is in fact a drainage ditch in disguise,’ explains Hugh. ‘It takes water to the River Ash and although it is always full in the spring, it can dry out in summer, so in an ideal world we’d love to line it to make sure there is water all year.’
Regulating moisture year-round is always an issue, but Hugh has some tricks up his sleeve. ‘The soil is either very wet or very dry so we constantly try and improve it with compost and well-rotted manure,’ says Margaret. Hugh’s compost heaps are tucked away discreetly at the bottom of the garden – perhaps sitting alongside the fairies, among their carpet of snowdrops. ☎ 1 ELIA COTTAGE, NETHER STREET, WIDFORD, WARE, HERTFORDSHIRE SG12 8TH, 01279 843324, NGS.ORG.UK. THE GARDEN IS OPEN FOR THE NATIONAL GARDEN SCHEME ON 15 AND 17 FEBRUARY, 12PM-4PM.