Already ten years! An aerial view of the garden gives an idea of the extent of the project… and how much has been done in such a short period of time. Also it was the first year that we opened the garden to the public through Jardins Ouvert/Open Gardens a scheme set up to raise money for a number of charities and also to build on Anglo/Franco relations! We were at the time the only garden north of the Loire! Most of the gardens were in the Dordogne and surrounding area..

We opened the garden on May 8 which is a public holiday in France and despite the overcast weather we were overwhelmed by the number of visitors. Luckily we were introduced to a journalist on Ouest France who lives in the next village! She came to the garden before the opening and was clearly impressed by the madness that she came on the day of the opening and did a follow up article. We had 65 visitors and raised 325 Euros! Not bad for a one day!

At the end of May the liner for the barn pond was delivered…. it took nearly 6 days to fill the pond from the lake!

David had always wanted to have a folly in the garden, an old ruined castle or abbey, so why not! The mound which has wonderful views across our neighbours land and lake was an ideal place! So more cement mixing and rock searching and the ruined castle was going to be a reality!