August – new arrivals

It's not every day you can say this, but this month saw five 8-foot bronze figures taking up residence in the garden here at Gasper Cottage. The work of Suffolk sculptor Laurence Edwards, the 'Walking Men' first took Bella's fancy when they came to nearby Messums gallery back in 2022.

Knowing they would be perfect for the garden, she snapped them up – though it would be a tantalisingly long wait before they finally arrived in this corner of Wiltshire. First, the pieces had to complete their London engagements, appearing at two further exhibitions: Space House and the Treasure House Fair.

This month, they finally arrived at their permanent resting place – behind the wildlife pond in the Meadow Orchard, where the garden meets the surrounding countryside.

Not your usual traffic on this sleepy country lane

Getting the positioning just right was crucial, as once the telehandler went home these figures weren't going anywhere.

With unspecified items, possibly tools, slung over their shoulders and around their waists, there is a deliberate ambiguity to the figures. Edwards himself has described them as both pre- and post-industrial, while for Bella's part she feels they have a prehistoric, 'emerging from the earth' quality.

The feet and legs seem to rise out of the earth with their darker colour and clod-like texture

Certainly the line between the figures and nature is blurred, which is why they felt so fitting for a garden which intentionally merges into its surroundings. The initial clay forms were built using natural materials such as branches, leaves and sticks, with their rough edges and textures captured in the casting process. The results appear part human, part landscape, giving them an earthly, timeless identity.

Apparently inspired by an encounter the artist had with a herd of deer in a forest, the men show a mix of purpose, alertness and hesitation. One presses ahead determinedly, while the others appear to have sensed something.

We think you'll agree they work extremely well here, and offer the perfect splash of artistic flair for this wilder, more natural edge of the garden. In practical terms, conversations are currently being had between Bella and Jack about how best to keep the vegetation down so as not to obscure those all-important feet (probably a mulch of stones and rocks).

Like they've always been here

In other news, well – it had to happen. On the 18th of this month, Wessex Water imposed a hosepipe ban, meaning no more watering the garden with mains water except with a watering can. This meant reducing all watering to the absolute bare minimum, and letting the lawns go brown.

Fortunately, when developing the newer area of the garden, Bella had a 5000-litre rainwater harvesting tank installed underground. Since then, it has been steadily filling up in readiness for a situation like this, and Jack and the team have now switched to using it to irrigate the 'essentials' – i.e., those things that would die without a helping hand. These include the plants in the greenhouse, the large display containers around the house, and any individual wilting emergencies in the borders.

No such luck at up the offsite polytunnel, however, where our regular use of harvested rainwater meant the tank there ran dry several weeks ago. Our only option was to move the plants to a shady spot outside and water them with a can.

Overall, the garden is hanging on in there pretty well, though there have been casualties in the unwatered reaches of the garden. Several trees and shrubs in the Forest Garden are seriously brown and wilted, and the Railway Garden has certainly looked better. Thankfully, the arrival of rain just a few days after the hosepipe ban came into force (typical!) has eased the strain, and the steady downpour at time of writing will be going some way towards replenishing water reserves. The most challenging times, it would seem, are over – for this year at least.

So, what can we learn from this growing season? While there is no knowing whether such extraordinarily hot, dry conditions will return any time soon, it makes sense to be prepared. The plan, therefore, is to reassess the garden’s reliance on irrigation, drawing a clear distinction between which areas will be watered and which will be left to fend for themselves.

Where irrigation is necessary, infrastructure will be introduced to make the process as efficient as possible – for example, through the use of drip hoses. Elsewhere, planting will be adapted to better withstand drought, not only by selecting drought-tolerant species, but also by planting more densely and introducing greater areas of shade to help preserve moisture in the soil.

The Hot Border is a particularly thirsty part of the garden

We’ll also take stock of those plants that flourished this summer, and those that struggled. The latter will be phased out – or, at the very least, have their cards marked – in keeping with the ‘survival of the fittest’ approach we take to planting here.

The aim, ultimately, is to create a garden that is as resilient as it is beautiful. This summer has certainly given us plenty to think about – as, no doubt, will the wet and stormy autumn the forecasters are predicting...