Secrets of the SALVAGED GARDEN

Add unique character and timeless charm to your outside space with repurposed salvaged finds

- ELLIE TENNANT

Push open the reclaimed gate to Louise and Piers Neweth's Oxfordshire garden and you feel as though you're stepping into a cottage 'potager' that's been the same for generations. In fact, the couple, who deal in antique gardening paraphernalia via their online shop Garden and Wood, began work on it in 2003 but, thanks to their savvy use of salvaged finds, it feels much, much older. When we created the garden it was brand new,' explains Louise. Using old materials made the garden feel much more established. Weathered items with history give a garden a sense of age.

With reclaimed bricks edging beds, salvaged paving slab paths, old stone troughs and cattle drinkers for water recycling, and antique copper planters overflowing with flowers, the vintage elements in the couple's garden enrich the space in many ways: aesthetically pleasing, incorporating salvaged finds into a garden scheme is also environmentally friendly, too.

'We were consciously trying to live a more sustainable life, so initially this was more important to us than how things looked,' says Louise. "But the two go hand in hand.'

While the more obvious garden antiques are always in demand - bird baths, urns, staddle stones, sundials, fountains and so on the secret to giving your garden a unique look is to use a little lateral thinking and incorporate items which were not originally intended for ordinary garden use. 'Our garden table top is a reclaimed snooker slate and the lights that hang in our trees are made from old Kilner jars,' Louise reveals. 'Nothing is new.'

1. Pick up a planter