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About 1 Station Cottage
Station Cottage is situated on land that used to be sidings and land used for maintenance activities associated with the adjacent railway line and now closed station at the level crossing. We find historical artifacts frequently when working around the property, and many beds have old sleepers as borders.
Our garden is made up of a formal planting around the house, and three areas of meadow which are surrounded by belts of wild rose, hawthorn, blackthorn and brambles with larger willows, elm, ash and elders. The formal garden includes a small group of apple and plum trees along our drive, a gravel garden and stumpery in the front of the house. At the rear we have wide mature herbaceous borders, a rockery with a small pond and lawn. Within this garden there is an art studio, a large DIY workshop and garden shed (which used to be a railway workers shed), a log store and several large composts bins which are always on the go. The herbaceous borders are made up of many perennial plants and shrubs, the borders are on their own evolutionary journey!
The meadows start with a smaller area of meadow in front of a log cabin next to the wildlife pond, and adjacent to our vegetable patch and chicken coop. This meadow has a number of younger trees including silver birch, twisted willows, Mediterranean oak, cherry, walnut, crabapple, hornbeam and beech. We have planted wildflower seeds in part of this meadow.
Beyond the pond is a belt of willows, hawthorn and blackthorn which is where we have a number of bee hives. This small woodland is being planted up with aconites, cyclamens, snow drops, primroses and hellebores and has natural arum lilies throughout. In the spring it is a delight to walk through. In the summer cow parsley takes over (as well as the dreaded goose grass), but it is a lovely shaded area of the garden.
There is a large wildflower meadow beyond this which we mow once a year in September/October. This has numerous native species which are slowly establishing themselves. In 2006 this was a mown area of grass had very few wildflowers, but now we have purple knapweed, ragwort (great for moths), ox-eye daisies, agrimony, Queen Anne lace, adder tongue ferns, lesser and bird foot trefoil, St John’s Wort, common mallow, weld, bedstraws, speedwells and ground ivy amongst other herbs and grasses. On favourable years we have had quite a few bee orchids and one year in lockdown we found a pyramid orchid.
The meadows support a growing population of insects, butterflies, moths, voles and mice, fox, muntjac, roe deer, rabbits, badger and on one occasion a stoat. There are many breeding birds including in 2023 reed warbler and moorhen. We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have a hidden wildlife reserve in the middle of industrial agriculture and ever extending housing from Ely.
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