The wildlife-haven garden

Borders in a cottage-garden style surround the verdant lawn behind Peter and Sheena Clark's 19th century home near Bristol, as Sue Bradley explains

THE garden behind Peter and Sheena Clark's cottage in the Somerset village of Long Ashton is perfect for family life and a haven for wild visitors. Its lush green lawn, pretty borders bejewelled with flowers and numerous places to sit lend it to get-togethers with their children, relatives and friends. And there's plenty of hospitality for wildlife, too, with trees and hedges providing shelter, a small pond, nectar-rich flowers, and nesting boxes and bird baths.

Coombe Cottage has been Peter and Sheena's home for more than three decades, during which time the garden has seen several iterations. Early on it was dominated by a large eucalyptus tree and an ash, the canopies of which met in the middle and combined with the likes of a holly, silver birch and apple to cast shade over the plot, much of which had been used for growing vegetables.

Removing the trees 

Subsequently, the couple's growing boys used it as a playground and occasional football practice, which signalled the end of an old greenhouse, before the garden that's there today, with its rockery, borders and beautifully kept lawn, began to emerge. "Removing the old trees let in so much more light," says Sheena. "We replaced them with a columnar hawthorn and plugged gaps with Photinia x fraseri 'Red Robin'.

A decent lawn 

"The ash had crushed the native hedging, but it grew back in its own way, and when the apple died we found an elder behind it," contiues Sheena. "The extra light meant we were able to plant things like sunflowers, and have a decent lawn, which is maintained by a specialist company four times a year.