14/04/2026
From Suburban Semi to English Country Dream
I'm being asked where I have been...
I’ve decided that if I can’t move to an English country house, I’ll simply turn my 3-bed semi into one. So that’s what I’m doing. I've been in the garden.
My front garden is becoming a riot of crocuses, daffodils, tulips, lupins, allium and delphiniums. The roses are coming alive, with greenish pink leaves popping out. A magnolia anchors one corner, a camellia another, and a small laurel sots in in the third. Beneath the sitting room window, three proud Photinia Red Robins glow in their pots against the gravel bed.
Round the back? I'm going full storybook.
I once had 2 cherry trees. But they created a small orchard of trees that I've kept trimmed to a sort of cherry hedge. It still produces fruit, and this year, will be underplanted with wildflowers. There’s going to be a BBQ patio at that end, too, with a kiwi vine stretching overhead in one corner. A rockery of blue grasses, purple creeping thyme and succulents will offset the cherry hedge and it's wildflowers. On the other side of the garden, last year I started a vegetable patch, but this year, it's my farm! It will be bursting with beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes and salads, kale, spinach. Even a big beautiful wasabi plant that's going great guns, even after winter! It's a thirsty one, if you're thinking of including one.
And I'm going to have a very big herb garden — over 40 varieties of herb (not all edible)— because restraint is overrated and I think of myself as the family wise woman, so I need them for remedies. And for soap and other things.
There’s also a zen garden:
A wooden bench.
A small pond with lotus flowers.
Buddhist statues and quiet corners.
A tinkling wind chime.
A gravel path leading you in.
Imagine yourself sitting there for a moment.
Shoulders down.
Jaw unclenched.
Breathing slower.
More wildflower patches, hostas, bluebells, lupins, delphiniums, zinnias.
Just next door to the zen space, a memorial rose garden with red, white and lilac climbers over an arch — potted roses honouring those who are with us and those we carry with us.
Across the garden again, a purple acer, an olive tree, and a rowan, overhanging a group of low level shrubs, hibiscus, dog roses, shade-loving flowering plants. I'm putting in a shady woodland path weaving through, the natural woodland ground surface with recycled rubber paving 'stones', leading walkers through a shaded wonderland of statues and sculptures. Buttercups and clover forming a soft pathway.
Just beyond, at the house's patio, a plum tree is covered in bird feeders, blossoms and new leaves, the shade of green only spring can produce. A gravel bed with reused paving stones housing large potted acer trees, miniature rhododendrons and hostas. A side bed with honeysuckle and laurel and a potted wisteria (which might be moved to the front garden and the porch...).
The paved patio edges house a variety of reused and recycled objects occupied by plants, shrubs and hardy herbs, such as rosemary and bay. Perennial flowers waiting for the warmer air to start their annual party of colour and joy across the patio. A strawberry tower, starting to produce pretty new and pretty leaves 🍃
Outside the kitchen window is another gravel bed with a range of stone and metal containers and a stone birdbath I rescued for £5 from the local tip (pro tip: always check your local tip's reuse shop. Absolute treasure trove). This is where I will grow my Teddy bear sunflowers. Its the ideal spot for them to soak up the sun — and it's a dwarf breed, so perfect little golden faces for indoor displays.
Here’s the best bit:
If you’d like your own wildflower patch, sow them now. Just rake over a bit of soil, scatter the seeds, give them a gentle sprinkle of soil over the top or another rake over, water the area … and then do the hardest job of all: wait. Nature does the rest. But the ground must be disturbed first.
I’m going to record the whole journey — from suburbs to country — as it unfolds, so I can look back and remember that disabled doesn’t mean unable. I can do this. And I have help but I will be involved in every job because it's my vision.
If you need a reminder that you can build beauty exactly where you are, this is it. If all you have is a balcony, use a fabric shoe holder that hangs on a door, hang it on the balcony and grow flowers or herbs. I grow potatoes and carrots in bags.
You don’t need acres. My veggie garden is about 10 sq ft. You just need intention, a few seeds and patience and you can pull up a seat in your own zen garden any time.
