Little Orchards

About Little Orchards

Situated in the pretty village of Outwood and adjacent to National Trust Woodland, the recently created gardens actually incorporate two properties. Little Orchards was once the old gardener’s cottage and The Stables was, as the name suggests, the old stables to the main house The Orchards. Little Orchards was purchased first in 2011 by Garden Designer Nic Howard and underwent complete renovation.

Seeing an exciting opportunity, four years later The Stables, next door, was purchased by Nic Howard’s Mother. The Stables had been a fairly poorly designed conversion in the early 1980’s but had enormous potential. Under the design direction of Nic, the house was completely transformed, and the internal layout completely reversed. The stunning courtyard at the rear was once a concrete driveway complete with double garage. The shady north side of the property has been transformed with the addition of a beautiful brick driveway with new oak barn garaging.

The Stables has also seen the clever repurpose of various items from several Chelsea Flower Show Gardens that Nic has designed. The Oak shelter with cedar shingle roof featured in his 2016 English Country Garden for David Harber and the three stunning Betula ‘Jacquemontii’ and underplanting were in his Chelsea garden of 2017.

The clever layout of the garden creates an interesting journey through the various areas. The planting is abundant and textural, with a subtle colour palette of greens and whites in the shadier areas and pops of colour that enjoy full sun. Walls and fences are used to support climbing roses, Hydrangeas and an impressive Muehlenbeckia. The borders are filled with a combination of shrubs, perennials and grasses that provide visual interest throughout the year.

The gardens of both properties continue to develop as Nic experiments with new ideas and planting combinations.
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