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How long have you lived at Bolts Quarry Farm?

We have lived at Bolts Quarry Farm for 23 years and moved here because the location of this small holding was just what we were looking for. Close to a village with amenities, wonderful riding being 5 mins ride to Bodmin Moor and a few more acres for our horses and cattle. Our land is in the sloping lee of a valley so we are quite protected from extremes of Bodmin Moor weather.  

What have you done to the garden since living there?

There was very little garden at that time and the gardens as they are today have evolved over time although not a priority as the house and meadows all needed attention. We have made use of areas which lent themselves to converting to a new  life –e.g  the disused quarry is now a wildlife friendly, landscaped garden bordered by a 2 acre woodland with the old granite quarry spoilheap between the two areas.

The old mowhay is now a colourful, ornamental garden on different levels with an array of flowering shrubs and plants. We have acidic soil so spring shrubs do well eg camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons.

We aim for lots of colour and do not worry too much about colour combinations. We also have several grasses and hydrangeas which all seem to do well here. At the moment the crocosmias, alliums, potentillas, Japanese anemones, cosmos and day lilies and even are flowering well amongst various other plants.   

We are in the process of creating a wildlife meadow and in addition, making use of a quite rough, granite strewn area which we are planting to tall grasses and young trees. The soil is poor so it is a process of finding what will survive and only time will give us the answer to this question!

We have developed our pond garden and boggy area; the pond is fed by two natural springs with an overflow which runs down through the wildlife meadow creating more planting opportunities for flag iris etc.

We have many favourite plants according to season, although I am partial to a hydrangea and have many different types here.

We have found that the lockdown period has been strangely very enjoyable and the gardens have certainly been a solace. We have spent more time this year sitting in the gardens in those six weeks of glorious sunshine just enjoying the birdsong and the buzzing of the bees amongst the flowers.