Running wild

A self-taught gardener with an eye for self-seeders, Louisa Morgan has created a glorious garden in the Usk Valley

- CAMILLA SWIFT

Monmouthshire is a gift to gardeners. For beginners, it’s also a glorious adventure playground: spindly yew and sparse hornbeam grow speedily into serious hedges; stuff happens almost as you watch. A new garden can appear established and older than its years in a pleasingly short time.

The garden at Cwm Farm in the beautiful Usk Valley sits so naturally in its surroundings that it might have been there forever. In fact, it is barely nine years old, and despite being a comparative gardening novice, owner Louisa Morgan opened her delightful garden for the first time earlier this summer for the National Garden Scheme (NGS).

The house was completely run down when Louisa and her husband Lee discovered it 15 years ago. For Louisa, marketing director of the family business Mandarin Stone (suppliers of natural stone, porcelain and decorative tiles), restoring the house to its Grade II-listed glory was familiar territory; the garden, however, was not. Just as she started to think about it, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Facing prolonged treatment (she has now happily recovered), the garden became an all-important goal, providing both sanctuary and support throughout a challenging time. She threw herself into the project.