Welcome to Neats Home Garden, a private garden in Oxfordshire, England.
The garden is divided into different rooms which are bounded by brick walls and hedges. I have been gradually renovating and re-designing the garden, creating a kitchen garden, dry garden, and orchards, and increasing our winter and spring bulb display, and am currently re-designing a long formal border.
History
Neats Home dates from the seventeenth century and was originally a yeoman farm. Neats is an Old English word for cattle, and an adjacent field was named Neats field on an old map, suggesting the farm once grazed cattle. The large timber-framed barn which dominates the garden dates from the mid eighteen century. The property was a substantial tenant farm until the early twentieth century.
The Formal Garden
The formal garden surrounds the old yeoman farmhouse. This area is enclosed by a beautiful old brick wall. I am gradually altering the planting here by planting a different set of perennials and adding a lot of bulbs, especially alliums and tulips.
Neats Home dates from the seventeenth century and was originally a yeoman farm. Neats is an Old English word for cattle, and an adjacent field was named Neats field on an old map, suggesting the farm once grazed cattle. The large timber-framed barn which dominates the garden dates from the mid eighteen century. The property was a substantial tenant farm until the early twentieth century.
The Formal Garden
The formal garden surrounds the old yeoman farmhouse. This area is enclosed by a beautiful old brick wall. I am gradually altering the planting here by planting a different set of perennials and adding a lot of bulbs, especially alliums and tulips.
One of the orchard areas, before we started mowing to reduce weeds
The Side Garden
I have changed this area quite a bit by turfing an over-grown bed and planting fruit trees. I am now working on clearing sections of it for snowdrops, to transform this into a snowdrop garden in the winter, and an informal 'orchard' in the summer months.
The Kitchen Garden and Orchards
These are areas I have created from scratch. I transformed a weed-strewn gravel drive into a kitchen garden, then levelled and cleared two other areas, enclosing them with hedging and planting fruit trees, to create orchards.
The Wild Garden
We call this area the wild garden, and it often reminds people of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1910). I have been slowly renovating this part of the garden, and I plan to make this a winter/spring garden, with masses of snowdrops and cyclamen, and spring-blossoming trees.
I have changed this area quite a bit by turfing an over-grown bed and planting fruit trees. I am now working on clearing sections of it for snowdrops, to transform this into a snowdrop garden in the winter, and an informal 'orchard' in the summer months.
The Kitchen Garden and Orchards
These are areas I have created from scratch. I transformed a weed-strewn gravel drive into a kitchen garden, then levelled and cleared two other areas, enclosing them with hedging and planting fruit trees, to create orchards.
The Wild Garden
We call this area the wild garden, and it often reminds people of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1910). I have been slowly renovating this part of the garden, and I plan to make this a winter/spring garden, with masses of snowdrops and cyclamen, and spring-blossoming trees.
Garden Wildlife
Birds and Bees
Native bumblebees nest in our roof and in old compost, turf, and autumn leaves. Native queens visit the hellebores and snowdrops in the wild garden in January and February. Field mice and voles nest in the old brick wall that divides the formal and wild gardens. Both greater spotted woodpeckers and green woodpeckers visit occasionally. Less welcome are the red deer, rabbits, and grey squirrels, which like to nibble hedging and fruit trees!
Grass Snakes
My most memorable wildlife encounters have been with our resident Grass Snakes. About a year in, I found a large nest of eggs in a manure pile. I relocated the eggs to the wild garden. The snakes hatched and there are now small snake holes all over the garden. Most recently we found four of them sunning themselves against a raised bed in the Kitchen Garden, and another hatch of eggs in a second manure pile, so they obviously like the conditions (and compost piles!) that Neats Home Garden offers.
Birds and Bees
Native bumblebees nest in our roof and in old compost, turf, and autumn leaves. Native queens visit the hellebores and snowdrops in the wild garden in January and February. Field mice and voles nest in the old brick wall that divides the formal and wild gardens. Both greater spotted woodpeckers and green woodpeckers visit occasionally. Less welcome are the red deer, rabbits, and grey squirrels, which like to nibble hedging and fruit trees!
Grass Snakes
My most memorable wildlife encounters have been with our resident Grass Snakes. About a year in, I found a large nest of eggs in a manure pile. I relocated the eggs to the wild garden. The snakes hatched and there are now small snake holes all over the garden. Most recently we found four of them sunning themselves against a raised bed in the Kitchen Garden, and another hatch of eggs in a second manure pile, so they obviously like the conditions (and compost piles!) that Neats Home Garden offers.
