Nant y Bedd
Fantastic open garden in the Brecon Beacons - RHS Partner Garden of the Year 2022
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The hot weather at the start of the summer has definitely had a big effect on many of our crops. Without going into the usual veggies, spuds onions beans, beans, beans …. we have had maybe our best ever returns from a number of different sources. Let’s start with the less well known. The Sichuan Peppercorn tree has yielded six spice jars worth of dried peppercorns, three times more than the… Read More
We were very lucky last week to have a wonderful documentary film-maker staying with us. By some sort of serendipity she phoned us looking for somewhere to stay in the area whilst she did some film editing and looked at a property she was interested in. So we offered her the use of the garden room in return for making a short video for us. Sophie Windsor Clive, for that is her… Read More
No, that’s not a spelling mistake in the title. We’re talking here about beech trees in the dingle, not lovely sandy stretches in the Bahamas. The big snow of just before Christmas, knocked quite a few branches off trees, particularly some of the conifers in the garden, but nothing too catastrophic. It was only when I went up to clear the pond pipe and check the hydro intake, that I saw it…. Read More
We do have a woodland management plan for our 3.5 acres of forest which, as those who have visited know, is a very special part of the mix of habitats and experiences that our garden has to offer. The problem is that aforementioned management plan is in my head… So having been invited to host a visit on the 18th June for members of the Small Woods Association is an excellent prompt… Read More
Bringing foliage, berries, cones and seed heads indoors from the forest and garden is a tradition which sometimes gets forgotten amidst the flashing, multi-coloured lights, revolving (revolting?) Santas, talking reindeer and other “bling” which so-called Garden Centres seem to wish upon us. Not at Nant-y-Bedd. I like to trim our own holly trees just before Christmas to provide sprigs for a traditional holly wreath – cotoneaster berries this year as the birds… Read More
It’s the booze making time of year again. It all seems to need to be done at once, so this year I’m splitting up the cider making with a bit of grape pressing. We have had an excellent crop of Tom Putt apples (as recommended by the Marcher Apple Network) this time round – it all depends on the weather at pollination time – but we have also been given a load… Read More
We had some lovely garden visitors today who were very interested in my method of stringing up the crop of onions to store them for use over the winter – so here’s how… I’ve been using this method since coming across it in John Seymour’s book (the organic gardening guru of the 1970’s) entitled the Self-sufficient Gardener, dated 1978 – how time flies when you’re enjoying your garden. The finished strings look… Read More
About a month ago we had a phone call from our friend Mick (he of pond and Cedric fame) asking if we would be interested in hosting a chainsaw course. Intrigued we asked why. It turned out that he needed to get his certificates up to date and the original venue for the course was now off-limits. The reason: dormice! To cut a long story short, Tom, the tutor, came and had… Read More
Saturday saw 20 or so people descend upon us for a Mushroom Foraging day. Organised by Liz Knight of Forage Fine Foods and executed by Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods, we had an amazing afternoon searching among the trees and along the river bank. Mark’s knowledge on fungi and how to use them was extensive and amusing as well as being excellent on the palate! After introductions all round, Mark got proceedings underway with… Read More
It’s not just about gardening at Nant y Bedd – we are also very keen on living the “Green Lifestyle” to the extent that we no longer use the oil heating and rely on wood for heating, cooking and to an extent for heating water – supplemented by Solar thermal units. That means a lot of wood, so the old grey Fergi gets put to work on hauling, splitting and cutting firewood…. Read More
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