The second of what will be three parts of our current virtual tour of the garden.

Day 6

We move into the Spooky Forest. Planted many, many years ago by the Forestry Commission as a Christmas tree nursery – if you are good with heights we’ll lend you a saw to cut a ‘tree’ from the tops!! – and never really managed. There’s also some lovely, huge, Douglas Fir at each end, and a few stands of Ash, at the moment.

Day 7

Do you remember the song “Down by the Riverside”? Well, that’s where we were on day seven. We’ve about 250 yards of river along this stretch (plus about another 350 alongside our new field) and, after clearing decades of brash and brambles, all sorts of flowers have sprung up.

Day 8

Heading back into the garden, hidden in the embrace of an 178 year old Sycamore (we have its birth certificate, if you don’t believe me!) is our much loved treehouse. Designed and built by Dan Tuckett (after an initial plan by Mick Petts) with help from tree-climber Oli Stinchcombe, it is both a thing of beauty and a great place to spend some quality time listening to the birds and the river.

The shape of the tree was just crying out for this, and Dan and Oli managed to do it all with only three (stainless steel) bolts into the tree itself, the rest is clamped round and counter-balanced. Fantastic job!

Day 9

Today we get to the pond. A wonderful place to sit and chill, or even more wonderful to slip into and bash out a few lengths of breaststroke. The border planting keeps the water crystal clear by gulping up any algae-inducing nutrients and looks beautiful as well. If the weather turns, then a quick dash to the shelter of the Shepherd’s Hut is all that is needed.

Do enjoy our pictures. We are not sure at present whether we will be able to open this year. But keep watching here and on Instagram.

More pics in a few days