Autumn in the holiday let gardens
By Natascha Henderson | Monday, 30 October 2023
Autumn is a really busy time for us in our gardens as we cut back and prune the plants for winter and in turn ensuring they are ready for next Spring and Summer. This year has been particularly late after such a warm Autumn with many flowers still in bloom.
The garden planning
We landscape all our gardens, working with the renowned landscape designer Posy Gentles. At the very start of each project, Posy designs the garden and what plants we use. Our discussions always revolve around how to give our guests as many different spots to enjoy as possible in their garden. But it doesn’t end there, each year she visits the gardens to helps us with their development, looking at what has thrived and what works. This can be to do with soil or drainage or in the case of our Cotswolds properties is as likely to be what the deer have enjoyed eating! She will work with us in each garden, moving plants, redesigning flower beds and shaping shrubs and trees to enhance our guests enjoyment.
Pruning climbers
One of our biggest goals is to cover the walls in beautiful flowering climbers. This involves careful pruning and lots of wire. Posy likes to undertake this herself, in the garden of Roebucks Rose, we have a very large cream rose. When we took over the garden this rose was in a terrible state on a carpark and covered about a quarter of the long wall it is on, now as you can see with clever knowledgeable pruning it now reaches well over half way across and has a continuing supply of creamy roses throughout the summer. Watching Posy achieve this is like watching an artist – and at the same time try and learn from a true expert.
Year round appeal
As we want you to be able to use the gardens year round, we work hard to ensure the gardens are not only private, but also offer secluded spots to sit and enjoy some downtime. This involves the plants being a mixture of evergreens and wafty perennials that wave in the summer breeze.
Children friendly
We host a lot of families, so not only will you find board games in the houses, but also play areas to kick a football, smash a shuttlecock or a swing to enjoy. Our barns in a nature reserve have a firepit to roast marshmallows and picnic benches at the end of the meadows to escape to and enjoy.
Why not come and see for yourself – the outside space and gardens are always a work in progress. (Spot the beautiful Maus lying in the Autumn sunshine!)
