Real garden: an enchanting bluebell wood garden

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp)

last updated 25 April 2020

Working with the environment, and creating a harmonious haven are aims that have guided Barbara Jeremiah and Kay Linnell over the past 26 years, in creating their peaceful garden at Brick Kiln Cottage in the Hampshire countryside.

The two acres stretch out from the characterful cottage that was once home to a brick master. They mostly comprise a natural bluebell wood, and enhanced areas of lawn and hollows that were the old clay pits.

Find out how they transformed the garden, then see more of our real home transformations. Find out how to plan and design the perfect garden for your home, too.

When they arrived, however, nothing had been done in the wood for approximately 40 years. ‘The whole place was generally derelict and overgrown,’ says Barbara.

The setting was clearly in good hands, though. Barbara is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners and a talented textile designer, so guided the restoration with an innate artistic eye.

A pebble garden in the bluebell woodland

A perimeter path was cleared around the mostly oak and beech wood, leaving the inside a natural habitat that attracts a range of wildlife. The ethos has been to manage the woodland and garden, while also achieving a space in which to relax.

Find more advice on how to create a wildlife friendly garden in our guide.

Paths now meander through the old pits, swathes of Allium ursinum, or wild garlic, scramble over the banks, and native ferns have been added to fill little gullies. Stumperies and rustic arches have been formed with the lighter fallen timber and roots.

Find out more ways to create a eco-friendly garden.

lavender in wellington unusual planter — *Lavender planted in some old wellington boots*

leigh clapp bluebell garden crown planter — *A tiny potted strawberry crown adds a touch of whimsy*

An area has been set aside as a wild garden, where indigenous and self-seeding plants are given free rein: from primroses, primulas and periwinkles, to borage, wood cyclamen, Alchemilla mollis and Geranium himalayense.

'I encourage the bluebells to multiply by moving them and planting in patches around the woodland, under trees, or at eye level on the top of hollows or in tree roots,’ explains Barbara.

garden bluebell cat — *A ginger tom oversees the gardening*

Decorative rustic detailing completes the garden, with sawn logs, tree stumps, old bottles and pottery.

garden wooden planter — *Epimedium spills out of the rough-sawn raised container*

Reducing and caring for an old yew in the garden gave Barbara logs to build rustic arches that work well with the old shepherd's hut

arch into bluebell garden — *Rustic arch into the bluebell garden*

Beside the house, a raised fruit bed and vegetable plot offer a variety of produce, and are backed by espaliered ‘Charles Ross’ and russet apples. A path through it has been made from bricks, each of the holes filled in with sand and then a penny placed on top.

Find advice on how to create a kitchen garden.

Behind a little picket fence is a rather wonderfully nostalgic cottage garden billowing with bee-attracting flowers and herbs. Here you’ll find hollyhocks, lavender, daisies, nasturtiums and delphiniums coming to the fore later in the summer.

For advice and inspiration on how to create your own cottage garden see our guide.

‘Each year we make seats, tables and arches from the wood from our trees, coppice the young branches for flower stakes, use wood for the fires in the cottage, chippings for the paths…’ says Barbara, as she contemplates the continued evolution of the garden.