NGS Garden Open: Brownhill House in Ruyton XI Towns.

Shropshire Star

If your garden is on a slope and you think it's tricky to garden, you haven't seen anything until you have met the two lovely people at Brownhill House Garden. Open on the 18th for charity.

Transcript

00:00So we're here in Wrighton, 11 towns and we're here with the lovely Yoland and Roger. Hello

00:05folks. Hello. So it says it on the t-shirt, Brownhill House, that is your home, that is

00:10your world you've created and you're about to open your beautiful garden for the National

00:14Garden Scheme, is that right? Yes, we're open on Sunday and then again on Tuesday. So how

00:19long have you been here, living here? 1969. Yeah, yeah, and it was a bit different when

00:26you first moved in, wasn't it? Oh, well, yes, you couldn't reach the river for scrap and

00:31fallen trees and brambles. Well, I was just amazed at the size of the garden. You can't tell when you

00:37first pull up to the house, can you? Have you ever tried to work out kind of how many acres it is?

00:42Oh, we think it's about two acres. Yeah. It's not easy to measure on a slope. If you count the slope,

00:48it's perhaps nearer two and a half acres. And it's, I mean, that's it. You've got the little garden at

00:53the top and then you've got this, what, 45 degree slope? On average, 45, yep. So when you first saw

01:00the house, did you think, yeah, we can garden that or did, because I think most people would just think,

01:05you know, that's a slope and... Well, I knew absolutely nothing about gardening. In fact,

01:09didn't even like it. Yeah, yeah. And then if Roger does anything, he has to do it to the nth degree.

01:16Yeah. So if people haven't been to your garden, just kind of describe your garden in a, you know,

01:22a few words. Well, certainly, people in the village, I think, think they can see the garden

01:29from walking along the pavement or walking along the footpath over there. And of course you can't.

01:35Yeah, yeah. So you've got the river Perry at the bottom. There's lots of interesting little

01:40sculptures we've discovered along the way. Nice collection of different ivies on the wall,

01:45Roger. You're a fan like me. You're fond of ivy. Oh, we try and make the garden a big variety of things.

01:51Yeah. And a few things that are amusing, because gardeners can take themselves too seriously.

01:57Yeah, yeah. And we're in the Laburnum Arch here, aren't we? Yep.

02:02That's right, isn't it, Laburnum? Is that right? Yeah, it is, yeah. So, um, is there a little story to this then?

02:07Well, we went to Bodnant, one of the first big gardens we went to when we first came here,

02:12and we saw their very famous Laburnum Arch, and I came back and I said, I want one. And Roger said,

02:20No.

02:21No.

02:22No.

02:23Yeah, yeah.

02:24So I bought a packet of seeds, and planted them, and they would have come from dozens of trees.

02:32Yeah.

02:33And I said, right, I've got the trees, and I think you could put it down here.

02:37Yeah.

02:38And I...

02:38Off again.

02:39I did, as I was told in the end, and built the arch.

02:42So...

02:43But the interesting bit, really, was talking to the gardener at Bodnant,

02:46that was expert on it, and he was astonished that we got all to flower at the same time.

02:52Oh, wow.

02:52Because they clone theirs.

02:54Yeah, yeah.

02:54And also, we make ours go up and over and down the other side.

02:58Yeah, yeah.

02:58This is one row of trees, up and down the other side.

03:02And then, of course, after they flowered, they all go straight up.

03:06Yeah.

03:06So come January, February, everything has to be cut back and tied in again.

03:10Yeah.

03:11See all the tights along here?

03:12Yeah.

03:13It's a big maintenance thing.

03:16Yeah.

03:16So, have you...

03:17Has Roger admitted defeat?

03:19Because it is beautiful.

03:20Has he said, yes, you were right?

03:23This does look great.

03:23I think so, haven't you?

03:24Oh, I think reasonably so, yeah.

03:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.

03:27Well, it's...

03:28I mean, it's physical work, gardening.

03:30But when you're gardening on a slope like this, I mean, it's a lot for you, isn't it?

03:35It's very good for balance.

03:37Yeah.

03:38Yeah, yeah.

03:38And there's always something to hang on to, even if it's only, you know, just something like that.

03:43But we haven't fallen off disastrously yet.

03:46But you'll only splash and land in the river anyway when you're at the bottom.

03:50And you've got the chessboard there.

03:51You've got the lovely little house behind it that you've kind of built yourself.

03:55And the amount of bricks and blocks you've had to carry down this slope.

03:59Hundreds and hundreds of tons, isn't it?

04:01Yeah.

04:01How many steps are there, Roger?

04:03It's all about 700.

04:05700 steps.

04:06Wow.

04:07Well, fantastic work, guys.

04:09And it's amazing what you've created.

04:11But for anybody thinking of coming to the garden, you don't have to go up and down 700 steps.

04:16Yeah, yeah.

04:17There's a lot of garden at the top.

04:19You can look down and you've got this fantastic view as well.

04:23Yeah, very true.

04:24And you've got Yolen's muffins as well.

04:27But we hear about snakes in the British countryside.

04:30You've got your own snake in your garden, haven't you?

04:34Yes, we have a snake bank.

04:36People are wondering if we found snakes here.

04:38No, we didn't.

04:39But we made a snake in the grass on the bank.

04:43We saw one in Cornwall.

04:46And there he is.

04:49Curving down and round.

04:53That's great.

04:54Love it.

04:54That's zooming on his little head.

04:56Look at that with the tiles for his little scaly bits.

05:00So this is an unusual, an unusual little thing, isn't it?

05:03What's happening here then?

05:04Well, we'd been to Thailand on a business trip.

05:07Yeah.

05:07And everywhere there were new buildings, we were told,

05:11if you take the land away from the spirit, you have to give it a spirit house.

05:15So everywhere there were little tiny spirit houses.

05:18But the logo on the top is interesting because it's a paper doily.

05:25And that's the logo of Thai Airlines in the middle.

05:30So we've got a lovely old car here.

05:32And Yolande, you've even started a car club.

05:35Yes, we bought a little seven, which is in fact a Birkin from South Africa.

05:42And we looked for a car club and there wasn't one.

05:44So we started one.

05:45Yolande, what's your club called then?

05:47The Shropshire Alternative Car Club.

05:49Shack.

05:50S-H-A-C-C.

05:55Right, so there's a nice, there's a lot of interesting bits of sculpture in your garden,

05:59isn't there guys?

06:00That makes it interesting, doesn't it?

06:02Is this modelled on you two here then?

06:04Yeah?

06:04Oh, are these?

06:05Yeah.

06:06Not really.

06:06Shh, we'll say they are.

06:08A male and a female gardener.

06:11Yeah, yeah.

06:12So you had all these specially made for the garden, didn't you?

06:14Oh yeah.

06:15Yeah.

06:16By Stokes of England.

06:17Okay, yeah.

06:18And we've got the little flame going on here.

06:20And of course, if we turn, we've got all the chest pieces there.

06:24Oh, you haven't seen Perrin.

06:30So you've got your chest piece, Roger.

06:33So who's the best at chest?

06:34You or Yolande?

06:35Oh, it's definitely me.

06:41So Yolande, you've got the river just here.

06:43Perfect little spot to sit.

06:45Which river is it?

06:46This is the River Perry.

06:47It goes into the Severn around Montford Bridge.

06:50Yeah.

06:50And it does flood the bottom of the garden, two or three times a year last year.

06:54Yes, it comes right up.

06:56It's more like a lake when you look at it.

06:59Yeah.

06:59It comes right up over this stone here, over this area here.

07:04And you've kind of discovered that the Aquilegius seem to, you know, survive it.

07:08I wouldn't have expected that.

07:10But not only did they survive, they've doubled in numbers.

07:15Yeah, yeah.

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