June 2017 – The Beginning

We moved to Eastby as a family of five. We had been looking for somewhere to move to for about four years, but nothing quite matched our criteria – a house with character, set in a village but not isolated, a big garden, and close to a town that had a train station and schools. When we viewed our house for the first time, it was a lovely spring morning. The first thing to hit us were the views out from many windows, to the south facing garden. Without doubt, it was the garden that won us over. However, the 3/4 acre plot was not without major issues – invasive weeds and a lack of attention over the past ten years had left it looking overgrown and a bit over-facing. There was an ornamental upper garden with a patio area, pond and large beds with shrubs and perennials. These beds were consumed with ground elder. The main paddock was covered mainly with head high nettles. The vegetable plot was difficult to access, but the remains of an old greenhouse was visible, as were the two plum trees and cherry tree. That first summer, we covered our legs and arms and enjoyed picking the most amazing crop of plums that inspired us to think about resurrecting the plot to recreate the family vegetable garden.