A wander round the garden

The garden's come on a treat since your last visit, unfortunately I've no photos but I'll take you for a wander round.

We'll just do the "front" garden today as it's looking particularly good at the moment. As we make our way down the steps notice the nepeta planted all the way down both sides  billowing over and alive with bumble bees. Just rub your hands through and smell that delicious aroma wafting around. The cast iron planters at the top and bottom of the steps look a lot better with a coat of paint and ivy-leafed geraniums cascading down from them, really smarten up the terrace. At the bottom of the steps here we'll go right then immediately left down to the lower garden. Walking down this path you'll see that it's planted all the way along with irises, day lilies and crocosmia - the crocosmia has been transplanted from various others parts of the garden and it's taken really well as it marches down the path. We could carry on down to the pond but if we stop just about here you'll see that another path has appeared going off to the left so we'll wander down that one. Yes, I know, I've got rid of all the grass from this side of the garden mainly because it was in a right state. I stripped it all back and created these lovely deep beds either side of a new path which meanders along, loops round behind the tulip tree and meanders back to join the main path lower down by the pond. Wandering along the top part of this meandering loop we're passing under lovely timber arches smothered with wonderfully scented roses and honeysuckles. It was hard work getting the arches in but worth it in the end. The beds here are densely planted with monardas, echinaceas, cosmos, persicarias (to name but a few) all planted in drifts and the path edged with heuchera and alchemilla which I'm expecting to self-seed and pop up everywhere. We're doubling back now on the bottom half of the loop to rejoin the main path but we'll just sit for a minute on this bench and look out over the bottom fields towards the kitchen garden, which is now cleared and packed full of tasty vegetables, and over to Mynydd Mawr. If we're lucky the Welsh Highland Railway steam train might go past.

That's enough sitting down, time to carry on exploring. The bottom half of the looping path takes us past beds planted with ox-eye daisies, love-in-a-mist and cornflowers to create a wilder more natural feel as we look out over the hedge and into the fields beyond. We'll cross the main path and walk over to the pond which has now been cleared of rogue rhododendrons and brambles and planted up with irises, marsh marigolds, flowering rush, lysimachia and sweet flag. Here's another bench where the monkey puzzle tree was. Unfortunately that developed a nasty disease and had to be removed before it fell on some unsuspecting guest. We'll rejoin the path and follow it round down behind the pond which gives us a really clear view over the fields across the valley towards the Elephant - always keeping a look out for any passing steam train so that we can wave.

Back round the other side of the pond we're heading up into a slightly shadier part of the garden and, as you'll see, I've removed some of the grass here and planted up a deep bed with hostas, brunneras and solomon's seal. Not all of this part of the garden is shady though, as we make our way along this path and rejoin the main path up towards the house again you'll notice another new path branching off to the left towards the snowdrop trees. We'll wander up this path which takes us up to another deep bed running along the length of the old retaining stone wall. This has been densely planted with scented shrubs such as wintersweet, mock orange and daphnes at the back and lupins delphiniums, campanulas, cosmos and echinaceas planted in drifts again. In the centre of this bed is another bench surrounded with scented roses and honeysuckles where we will now sit and take stock of the garden.

As you glance around again from here you'll notice that it's all disappeared - which is what happens to me everyday. I walk round the garden and in my mind I can see and smell it as it will be, hopefully very soon.