Old Court is very much work in progress!
We bought the site in 2014 as part of the Treloar School relocation into Alton and the subsequent sale of the land, which was originally part of the grounds of Froyle House. What we actually bought was a concrete car stand and about one acre of very overgrown garden and woodland. The car stand is now our house and the garden has been slowly under construction over the past 9 years.
The land had been neglected for some time and as we began to clear we realised it had also been used as a dumping ground! Mostly for old bricks, tarmac and general builders’ rubbish. However, we have also found old bits of china, drink cans, bottles, confectionery wrappers etc. We have been told the residents of the school went into the woods for recreational purposes.
We have been lucky to inherit some older features which have been a great starting point for the garden. The eastern border is a lovely old brick wall, well over 2 metres high in places. On the other side of this wall you will find the original kitchen garden for Froyle House – now a private residence. There is also a lovely grass courtyard delineated by an old and very much thriving yew hedge. We initially thought it was the boundary for a grass tennis court – hence the name Old Court for our house. However, we have since learned there was in fact a pond here, which was subsequently filled in by Treloars.
So to work on the garden…
We started by cutting down self-seeded sycamore trees which were overcrowding the yew hedge, causing it to turn brown and rather dead looking in places. Once we could see the hedge properly, we decided to cut an entry into the side of the hedge to gain a view into the courtyard from the house. We also cut the hedge height down to about 5’ around this new entrance.
We then needed a path to the courtyard and at the same time decided to run a path along the side of the wall to the spectacular viewpoint at the end of the garden overlooking fields. We dug a narrow bed on the wall side of the path and planted espalier fruit trees against the wall.
At the same time, we dug a much bigger flower bed on the southern edge of the garden and mostly planted shrubs here. We also planted a rose bed outside the sitting room window. Our garden designer had grander plans, but we were anxious to keep maintenance down and enjoy the space!
A good decision because three years after moving in we were offered a further acre or so of land by the developer who sold us the plot. Although not looking for more garden, it was an opportunity to increase the view across the fields…. Most of this extra land was woodland. The newly acquired border was a very overgrown beech hedge which had become a row of tightly packed trees over many years. There were also some out-sized hazel bushes which had not been coppiced for many years. A lot of plants competing for light. Again, we sought advice, and the result was a thinning out of the beech and a gradual coppicing programme for the hazel bushes. Suddenly everything started to grow really well with some light and space. Every spring more bulbs pop up and we are continually adding to this. We also added a small birch grove and planted bulbs between the trees. We added a bench and now have a great spot for morning coffee!
We have another bed we call the Cottage Garden which frankly is a muddle! Quite pretty in early summer with forget me knots, lupins and poppies. However, the soil is particularly poor here and it takes a lot of digging over and each time we find large blocks of concrete in the heavy clay. With the help of a local expert, we have decided to redo this area completely. She has suggested some hedging and meadow type planting to create more interest, and less work! In the yew courtyard we have 4 raised beds where we enjoy growing vegetables and cut flowers.
