This walled garden is one of the small hidden garden spaces of Parkgate, Cheshire. I discovered it while out dog walking one day in 2012, and recognised the potential. Having a walled garden has always been a dream, somewhere for a beautiful kitchen garden and orchard but also small enough for me to manage. This fitted the bill perfectly. When it came on the market a few years later I snapped it up, and my walled garden project was born. This journal charts that conversion of a neglected, derelict space into a lovely walled garden, and things I have learned along the way.

About The Location

Parkgate is an old Georgian fishing village on the edge of the River Dee. From 1686 - 1815 it was the main shipping port between England and Dublin, until the estuary silted up in the early 1800s and the main port moved around to Liverpool. The Parade is the main thoroughfare; it runs along the edge of the old Parkgate sea wall with views out over the RSPB-managed salt marshes and the hills of North Wales. On very high tide days the river level rises, and the water comes flooding back in over the marshes up to the sea wall. It is very popular with visitors: bird watching, great walks, the beautiful views and good pubs mean it can be very busy at weekends. But behind the busy Parade are many small, much quieter lanes and alleys (called Weints in this part of the world) with hidden buildings and gardens.

My walled garden is one of these; a private space located behind a row of 1920s cottages on one of the narrow Parkgate lanes. It is hidden to everybody except those neighbours who directly overlook it. The site had been neglected for many years, with a row of old garages in a derelict state. I came across it by accident while out walking my dogs - it was was wildly overgrown and home to an impressive infestation of Japanese knotweed. But the space definitely had potential, and when it came on the market a few years later, I purchased it.

About Me

I am a keen amateur gardener. My gardening experience to date has been of small city gardens: courtyards with high walls and lots of pots. Until this project, I had never had a lawn to mow.

I have always coveted a walled garden. My interest in them started with my first visit to West Dean Gardens in West Sussex. Their beautiful walled kitchen garden is as decorative as it is productive with beautiful glasshouses and espaliered fruit trees covering the walls. I found it very inspiring. Since then I have been a regular visitor to many other beautiful walled gardens: The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, Villandry in France and Ballymaloe near Cork in Ireland and have come away with a lot of ideas, waiting for somewhere to try them out.

This garden is a fraction of that size - approx 250m2, and not nearly as grand, but I will be drawing on those ideas I have collected over the years and finding ways to use them in this garden. My plan is to do most of the work myself, with occasional help from specialists when needed. It is an ambitious project for me, and will be an interesting adventure.

About the Garden Plans

The main objective is to convert this walled space into a large studio, kitchen garden and orchard, making a real feature of the walls. The design and plans will be done in phases, adding detail to each stage as it happens. Work on the garden began in July 2017, and is still a work in progress.

My plan is to only use edible plants in the garden, or plants that have some culinary use. The exception to that will be a couple of South African plant collections : proteacea, agapanthus and kniphofia.

This journal is a compilation of the notes and photographs I have kept since the the start of the project, my research, discoveries, decisions, planting and progress made. It is a project that gives me great pleasure and this is how I share that with my friends and family.