Tenant Sarah Crawshaw has always loved her garden but after she had a stroke five years ago it became a lifeline and now it is her haven.
She and her husband Julian have created a stunning country cottage garden around their home in Baytree Close, Corsely Heath. Years of patient planting and pruning have resulted in a garden that is a riot of colour and scents in the spring and summer.
Her stroke left her struggling with mobility and concentration but the garden gave her a place where she could express herself, as well as somewhere outdoors she can appreciate the nature she loves.
“After my stroke, there isn’t much I can do, except gardening and painting, so this has really helped me,” she said. “I’m so blessed that I have the garden, I don’t get out a lot but I do really like being outside, so this is my healing.”
Julian said Sarah’s skill in knowing which seeds to plant and when to prune, combined with the wild nature of the garden, gives it its unspoiled, unplanned look. “It’s not pristine, it’s just full of natural flowers and natural growth,” he said. “Sarah works so hard and what she’s produced is so nice. Every year it seems to fill out a little more and grow more beautiful, and this is the best year yet.”
The garden has around four metres of wild grass meadow. “The birds and insects really like it, we have three or four birds nesting our garden,” said Sarah. “We have Robins, Dunnocks and Blue Tits and our bird box has a couple of sparrow chicks now.
“We get a lot of bees and butterflies because we have the plants that attract them, we both love nature so it is lovely to be able to sit out and appreciate it.”
Her favourite flowers are Foxgloves which, says Julian, have been in fine display this year. “They’ve been beautiful, pictures don’t do them justice,” he said. “We’ve also got our wedding rose in the front garden and year on year that is doing so well at the front. Sarah does the deadheading out there and it keeps flowering.”
The garden is a contrast of sun at the front and shade at the back. Sarah has been sourcing drought-tolerant plants to keep the front colourful. “You don’t need to buy a lot of plants, you can just do it from seeds and once it’s all established it kind of takes care of itself,” she said.
“In the spring we put down organic compost and do some weeding and in the winter you have to prune a lot but after that it’s just half an hour a day, a bit of weeding and deadheading.
“I don’t know what I’d do without the garden, I feel like it is my medicine. I always feel better out there.”
