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Old Corn Mill

Even before Jill moved into her new house she had around 1000 native trees and shrubs planted beginning the process of creating a wildlife friendly garden that would fit with it's rural setting.


Season:
Spring


Credits:
GAP Photos/Carole Drake


Feature No:   3917 

Qty of Images:    58 

 



 
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Images available for use by license only.

 
Synopsis
When Jill Hunter first heard about the Old Corn Mill, a derelict C18th building beside the Rudhall Brook in rural south Herefordshire, she knew it would be a great project for her architect son David but feared it would be too much of a challenge for herself. 'When I came to see it, though, I loved its gentle, tranquil feel and immediately saw the potential of the place with its running water and natural ponds', recalls Jill, as smitten now with her streamside location as when she first saw it in 1995. Even before Jill moved into her new house she had around 1000 native trees and shrubs planted, including cornus, viburnums, spindles, birches, hawthorn, rowans and hollies, beginning the process of creating a wildlife friendly garden that would fit with its rural setting. Mirabel Osler's book 'A Gentle Plea for Chaos' in which the author champions an unruly and sensual approach to gardening over formality and excessive tidiness has been a great influence on Jill. 'I read it long ago and always thought that the way she describes making her garden in Shropshire is how I would approach a new garden if I had the chance.' Making a garden with a stream, natural springs, steep slopes and adjoining pastureland requires a relaxed attitude to those plants that others might see as weeds. 'I like the garden to flow into the fields and the fields to flow back into the garden', says Jill. 'I love having wild flowers coming in like red campion, bluebells, primroses, marsh marigolds, and especially cow parsley which is my favourite. I think celandines and buttercups are beautiful too, varnished and lovely.' Even common spotted orchids seed liberally into borders that Jill then pots up to sell on open days. In April her small sloping field is full of a dolly mixture array of brightly coloured tulips, a joyful celebration of spring.

 

 

 
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