Saturday 11 August 2012

Getting going at Settrington


My new home and garden-to-be at Settrington, North Yorkshire
After a horrible day packing and loading on Thursday, I arived at my new home in Settrington, North Yorkshire, just after midnight on Friday: the removals van got here at 10.30 yesterday morning and another few strenuous hours ensued. By this afternoon, with essential furniture established and shopping done, I could turn to the garden. It's smaller than at Colesbourne, but still a decent size, with a southerly aspect and a nice light loam soil.

The garden has not been worked for a little while, it seems, but was made by a lady who contributes occasional words of horticultural wisdom through the pages of The Garden. There are some curiously impractical aspects, and the palette of plants flowering at present is rather too tastefully pastel for me, but there are some good things worth keeping. Most interestingly, it's evident from the vigour of plants such as Euphorbia  × pasteurii, Eryngium agavifolium and Geranium robustum that the climate is certainly no colder than at Colesbourne. It is going to be fun to make a garden here.


Settrington is at the northern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds: looking south from my bedroom.

Pastel shades predominate in the main border, with Salvia sclarea prominent.

Onopordon is happy here...

First tack was a hack-job mowing of the long grass , followed by a couple of vigorous hours with the slasher to cut down the worst of the weeds.

A curious feature along the drive is a row of poles with things atop them, rather too suggestive of Mr Kurtz to be nice. They will not stay there long.

3 comments:

  1. I hope you settle in quickly and enjoy creating the new garden. I hope you are very happy there, Castle Howard just far enough away for separation from work, but near enough. What wonderful views you have to take advantage of - not like Norfolk! Perhaps all the poles should have hats like the statues in London!

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  2. Dear John.
    Such lovely location, lovely views.
    Looking forward to see the change of the garden, after you´ve run your fingers through it. Quite exhiting to start from ´almost scratch´. Although it´s pretty hard with the change in life, I do hope you settle in well.
    Good luck. Best regards, Iris.
    Ps. The poles look strange to me, what purpurse do they serve, I think ...

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  3. Good luck with your new garden, always an exciting time getting to know the soil, wondering what bulbs are going to appear next Spring.

    Many decades ago I remember a washing line in the garden. The posts looked just like yours :}

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