28 Church Street

About 28 Church Street

Having purchase the property in May 2013, the house and gardens having been neglected for some time needed major works and replanning. The front walls were in a very poor state and the drive uneven. The front garden was largely gravel directly on soil with woody and overgrown plants and shrubs, the rear garden had very large confers and again very overgrown shrubs and plants and a crab apple tree that had canker rot weeping out.
We decided at this point we would spend money on rebuilding a new wall paths and driveway putting the whole front garden to a plain lawn and just two flower beds directly in front of the house, this allowed us to relay new and additional drainage for planned works in the house. During theses works we also removed the hedging to both sides of the garden. As we both work full time and are not experienced gardeners, we thought this wise until we had more time and money. The front garden has had several incarnations of planting but in spring 2021 we decided to rotovate and level the front lawn with new topsoil to lay a fresh lawn and insert flower beds and an espalier frame to grow fruit trees as part of the Queens Green Canopy for her Platinum Jubilee. We had a lot of problems with weeds and even more came in with the topsoil taking 12 months to overcome. This has been planted to be low maintenance with weed suppression and gravel mulch along with all plants being evergreen and perennial flowering. In addition, we have planned two borders of Agapanthus a real passion along with the Espalier Trees.
The rear garden has seen a huge amount of hard landscaping, re planning and works to take advantage of our unique views and out look across the Somerset Levels for spectacular sunsets and the ancient cider orchard behind our home. We have a great deal of wildlife visiting the orchard and our garden including Foxes, Hedgehogs, Deer, and a vast variety of birds.
We had to remove the Apple tree as we couldn’t’t save it, Jo and I have lifted the old patio and done all the ground works in the rear just paying somebody to lay the patio which we sourced additional reclaimed slabs to match the existing thus more than doubling the size. We have also built all the decking and raised beds and planted in a similar vain to the front garden including a pond and water feature. We have interspersed the planting with small scale sculptures. By installing a large specially designed and built Shed we have created an outdoor dining area with a pergola over, the rear garden has developed over a 6-year period and in the summer of 2022 we removed a Laurel the very last plant that was in the garden when we moved in.
Our whole outdoor space has been designed for low maintenance and to be a social and entertaining space taking advantage of our beautiful surroundings.
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