Musselbrook Cottage Garden

About Musselbrook Cottage Garden

This one acre garden has been created since I moved here in 2010. The garden then was essentially a field with excellent extant hedging which has been particularly beneficial in helping to attract wildlife. The garden was planned out and a digger was used to create many of the ponds and create the mounded Mediterranean garden. Further ponds have subsequently been dug by hand. Apart from soil turned over by the digger, the soil is very rocky and most planting including bulbs is done using a mattock.

The planting is naturalistic with the thirteen ponds displaying waterlilies and other aquatic plants, and other areas of moisture loving plants being a dominant feature. There is a Koi pool containing Koi, Orfe and Rudd, and two other ponds containing golden and silver Rudd. An artificial stream links two of the ponds. and a natural stream feeds a bog area. Wildlife is plentiful with much planting to encourage dragonflies and butterflies.

Autistic visitors have praised and enjoyed the sensory experiences in the garden.

The garden is a plantsmans’ paradise with many rare and unusual plants, and planting to provide interest in all seasons. I initially planted thousands of bulbs each year and have continued to add more annually, so there must be more than 25,000 now.

There are a number of oriental features in the garden including the path which was designed in the manner of a Japanese stroll garden (Katsura Rikyu in Kyoto, Japan is a notable example) leading the eye to discover interesting features at every turn such as the Torii Gate, Oriental Bridge, Tea house, Buddha, granite water basin with water spout, and not least the Japanese Garden with its granite Yukimi Doro lantern, small pool, raked gravel area and restful planting.

Other areas include a wildflower meadow with a succession of plants including lovely scented wild tulip (throughout the garden early in the year) Primulas, Cowslips,Camassias, Oxeye daisies, Birdsfoot Trefoil & wild carrot. Yellow rattle was planted initially to check the vigour of the grass. There is also a sizeable clock golf arena (unfortunately affected by 2022’s drought and visits by my neighbour’s horses).

A substantial planting of many ericaceous plants is also a dominant feature with some splendid Magnolias and hundreds of other plants including Camellias, Acers, Pieris, Rhododendrons, Enkianthus and Hydrangeas. Erica arborea, Cytisus, Euphorbia, Cistus, Daphne, Hemerocallis, Buddleia, Roses, Myrtle, Grasses, Miscanthus, Bamboo, Peony, Dierama, Iris, crocosmia (masses), Aster and Schizostyylis are amongst other plant highlights.

A small nursery offers waterlilies, aquatic and other moisture loving plants, as well as other herbaceous plants and shrubs.

Planting extremely labour intensive as ground is full of rocks. A mattock soon became my indispensable tool, even for planting bulbs. Small nursery (inc aquatics, water lilies) can be visited by appointment.