Avalon

About Avalon

Avalon garden is a beautiful and peaceful retreat that is brimming with wildlife. The 2/3 acre garden is situated on a 1 in 6 hill with views of the Mendips, Quantocks, Blackdown Hills and in the distance Wales. The upper terraces are accessed via steep steps and require full mobility whereas the middle and lower gardens are accessible to wheelchairs.
We do not recommend the garden for children due to several ponds and steep terracing at the top of the garden.
In the 1970’s the then owners built an Italian style terraced area in the upper third of the garden, covered with concrete, paving slabs and walls of California block! When those owners moved, a wood was allowed to grow up through this area and this is how we found the top garden when we arrived 2017. Very much the lost garden of Avalon!
We have felled the wood, removed the concrete and paving slabs, reinstated a buried spring fed water course with ponds and rebuilt some of the California block walls as our folly!
The terraces have been planted in different styles in keeping with their environmental conditions including a Gunnera and bog terrace; fern terrace; white terrace; grass and prairie style terrace; dry terrace with bearded irises and Mediterranean herbs. Magnolias, Camelias, Rhododendrons and Cherry trees have also been installed.
In 2022 we installed a dedicated Dahlia bed and started construction on the final third of the upper garden, a shaded woodland walk with coppiced hazel, wild spring bulbs and flowers, plus specimen Rhododendrons; this work is still ongoing.
Extensive replanting has also been completed in the lower and middle gardens with the result that the borders are full of interesting plants.
The ponds and whole garden have a large population of frogs, toads and newts as well as many bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other insects. We are also very happy to have Slow Worms in our large compost heaps and many birds feeding from our dedicated feeding arch.