The Old Brewery Garden

The garden that’s surrounding John and Ursula Brooke’s home near Bath is a relaxed and wildlife-friendly space with a fascinating past, says Sue Bradley

- Sue Bradley

GONE are the years when ale was brewed within John and Ursula Brooke’s split-level garden in a village just over two miles from Bath in the West Country.

Nowadays the brewer’s residence, created from converted cottages in 1830, and a series of barrel-storage tunnels stretching under the front lawn are the only clues as to the site’s commercial past.

John and Ursula have lived in Brewery House in Southstoke for 35 years, during which time they’ve brought together a number of unusual plants, many of which have had time to mature into exemplary specimens.

Other key elements include a selection of old trees, including apple, mulberry, pear, medlar and pine, a large topiary chicken and a collection of bamboos, all of which combine to provide attractive backdrops for borders planted with a keen eye for colour and form.

Stone walls 9ft (2.7m) high enclosing the back garden are used to good effect to train roses and climbers such as kiwi and grape vines that benefit from a south-facing aspect at the top of the sloping site. An old swimming pool added by a previous owner has been turned into a pond, complete with an attractive red bridge, small waterfall and leafy ‘islands’, in which plants are grown in soil contained within old bread trays placed on ladders. John has also created a ‘floating island’ using a roof rack placed over a large piece of expanded polystyrene.