Spaces to Be

The garden is loosely arranged into nine discreet areas, so you should be able to find a private seat and an aspect to suit you – on the sheltered terrace, in the rose garden, the white garden, the olive garden, the lower lawn, beneath the Tree of Heaven or in the wilder woodland or orchard. There is an upstairs prayer room/chapel, plus a Summer House and a converted barn where art materials are usually available. Quiet Day sessions take place in the barn or sitting room or, in warm weather, in the rose garden.

Wildlife friendly

Oswalds is a cottage garden – the borders are mixed and plant choices have been made to optimise wildlife value – so there are untidy areas to create diverse habitat, a small woodland, several water sources, rock and woodpiles, and native food and breeding native plants alongside flowering shrubs and hedges. We keep bees, so aim to provide food for pollinators throughout the year.  Birdlife is varied and noisy (!) and you are likely to see buzzards, hear woodpeckers and many noisy sparrows as well as the usual garden songbirds. Small mammals abound and visits from mice, rabbits, squirrel, fox and badger are evident. There is an abundance of fruit, both soft and stoned as the site was originally all domestic orchard - the wildlife help themselves! And we grow vegetables, keep chickens and a couple of sheep - their lambs will be in the upper orchard in Spring.