The Old Vicarage is a largely Georgian house, built of limestone and ironstone, with a typical Collyweston stone roof. The history of the building is obscure, but it seems that the Georgians added the original extension to a sixteenth century three storey cottage at what is now the back of the house and then, much later, built a two bay villa on the front and joined these with a curved wall. As a result of these developments it lacks any of the typical Georgian symmetry and formality. It was the home of the vicar who held the living of Holy Cross Church, which served Burley House and the village.
We live here with our cats, Rosie and Jim, our bantam cockerel, Captain Mainwaring and his harem of 14 (mostly full-size hens).
We live here with our cats, Rosie and Jim, our bantam cockerel, Captain Mainwaring and his harem of 14 (mostly full-size hens).
When we returned to England in 1996, after 4 years of living and working in Switzerland and Greece, we wanted to find an old house and garden which needed some care and attention. We were lucky to find the Old Vicarage, but it was in such a poor state of repair that it was a year before we were able to move in, and several years before the work on the house was complete. It wasn't until the new millennium that we were really able to pay much attention to the garden.
We didn't start with a grand plan (although we have drawn one up in retrospect), but worked outwards from the house, trying to make sense of the different areas. There were some beautiful mature trees around the boundary, mostly beech and horse chestnut and under these many thousands of snowdrops, but other than that the garden consisted of a small orchard and a three acre slope covered with nettles, ground elder, ivy and brambles and self-seeded cherry and sycamore trees.
We didn't start with a grand plan (although we have drawn one up in retrospect), but worked outwards from the house, trying to make sense of the different areas. There were some beautiful mature trees around the boundary, mostly beech and horse chestnut and under these many thousands of snowdrops, but other than that the garden consisted of a small orchard and a three acre slope covered with nettles, ground elder, ivy and brambles and self-seeded cherry and sycamore trees.
There was a small walled pony paddock (with dangerously leaning walls), a toilet block left over from the soldiers' camp in the second world war and a small rubble terrace at the back. There was also an area which we later realised had been a tennis court; the strange 'soil' had been a boiler-waste surface and the unidentifiable trees around the perimeter had once been a privet hedge.
We terraced the garden to give level surfaces and then divided the garden into different areas, as much to preserve our sanity when it comes to maintenance, as to create 'garden rooms', but we do enjoy the different character of each of the areas. Most of the divisions are hedges, predominantly yew, but with some hornbeam, box, holly and beech. We took down one face of the pony paddock wall, intending just to replace that and ended by rebuilding the whole 'walled garden', one wall at a time, in reclaimed brick and turned that into an ornamental vegetable garden.
We terraced the garden to give level surfaces and then divided the garden into different areas, as much to preserve our sanity when it comes to maintenance, as to create 'garden rooms', but we do enjoy the different character of each of the areas. Most of the divisions are hedges, predominantly yew, but with some hornbeam, box, holly and beech. We took down one face of the pony paddock wall, intending just to replace that and ended by rebuilding the whole 'walled garden', one wall at a time, in reclaimed brick and turned that into an ornamental vegetable garden.
2011 marked a landmark year for us as we opened the garden to the public with the National Garden Scheme for the first time, with much support and encouragement from the local NGS team. We open once or twice in June for the NGS and take groups around those dates, by arrangement. All our takings go to the NGS and our nominated charity, Eden Valley Hospice http://www.evhospice.org.uk
Having visitors has been unexpectedly enjoyable and has made us appreciate the garden more; instead of just seeing the problems or the work still to be done, our perspective changes and we remember how far we have come.
We have been magnificently supported by to our small group of stalwart volunteers who serve teas, take admissions and help with the parking, and are grateful to those who have visited and then returned with friends or groups and enabled us to raise almost £15,000 for charity in our first three years.
We have been magnificently supported by to our small group of stalwart volunteers who serve teas, take admissions and help with the parking, and are grateful to those who have visited and then returned with friends or groups and enabled us to raise almost £15,000 for charity in our first three years.
