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A hard winter suits Max and Sarah Ward’s garden at Stobshiel in East Lothian. When the herbaceous plants have disappeared and the leaves have fallen off the trees the yew hedges, box shapes, juniper and statuary that make up the bones of the walled garden come into their own, showing off their crisp outlines against a background of tall, feathery trees.
On a cold, snowy morning the geometric outlines of the box edged beds in the walled garden on the north side of the house are clearly defined, while the plants surrounding the informal pond near the back door are covered in a coat of frost. To the right of the driveway the crisp outlines of a raised stone lily pond frame a sheet of ice.
‘We are hoping for a really good winter,’ says Sarah, a note of longing in her voice, ‘something to kill off all the bugs. Stobshiel used to have hard winters, the garden looks spectacular in the winter when the shapes stand out and the ducks skid on the ice on the pond.’
Despite severe forecasts she wonders if this winter will be cold enough – days like the one shown on these pages taken last year are becoming increasingly rare. But if there is a frost Stobshiel, situated at 700ft at the foot of the Lammermuir Hills, is sure to benefit. Meanwhile Sarah is making plans, as she has every year for the past 12 years, to make the best of the winter months.
When Max and Sarah first moved to Stobshiel she was overwhelmed by the size of the walled garden. ‘I had four small children and I didn’t think I would be able to cope,’ she says. But when Pat Stevenson,
In this month's issue Alan Cochrane writes about new penalties for wildlife crimes. Do you think it would be fair to ban keepers for life for certain wildlife crimes?
