Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
NATIONAL GARDEN
COMPETITION 2016
David Hampson, 75, a retired graphic designer, lives in a modern detached property in Silsoe in Bedfordshire with his wife Frances, 73, a retired fashion technician. David Hampson moved house in 2014 with a very heavy heart, distraught at leaving the much-loved quarter-acre garden he’d tended for over 30 years. ‘My wife Frances had been trying to persuade me to downsize for years, but it took me a long time to accept I couldn’t manage the garden any more and that we had to leave,’ he says. ‘It was a real wrench.’
Matters weren’t helped by their new garden being distinctly uninspiring. ‘We moved to a brand new property, with a garden measuring just 11m x 10m [37ft by 34ft]. It was entirely laid to lawn, and under the thin layer of soil we found lots of old bricks and then a layer of horrible clay. There were also five inspection covers in the garden that had to be kept free for access.’ No wonder that when grandson Joel first came to visit, his damning verdict was, ‘Grandad, your new garden’s rubbish.’
However, David’s son Mark, 41, a jewellery designer and keen gardener himself, could see potential. He was moving in with his parents for a year having recently sold his own property and came up with an ingenious design for the plot. A series of green oak raised beds would overcome the problem of the bad soil, with a smart square lawn at the centre. A deck would make for a seamless transition from house to garden; flower beds were to run along the garden’s perimeter, with a pond and water feature installed near the house; and the inspection covers would be hidden, but still accessible, under slate chippings or decking.
Mark contributed plants such as tree ferns and bananas from his garden, while David and Frances brought ornamental grasses, shrubs, ferns, roses and cuttings from their old plot. David and Mark did all the work themselves. ‘It was more like heavy construction than gardening,’ David says, ‘but we could see our efforts were going to be worthwhile.’
They used 12 tonnes of topsoil in the raised beds. ‘Our 50 pots of plants didn’t go far, so we had to buy lots of extras like bamboos, clematis and wisteria,’ David says. Some beds are reserved for acid-loving plants like camellia and rhododendron, others filled with dahlias, crocosmias, cannas and sedums.
After less than two years, the garden looks impressively mature, and greenery has been planted to screen them from their neighbours. David and Frances are delighted with their new plot, and with less maintenance needed, they now have the time to sit back and enjoy it. ‘This garden gives us a huge amount of pleasure,’ David says. ‘It’s amazing what can be achieved in a small space.’
AN EXOTIC OASIS – BUILT FROM SCRATCH