The Old Orchard and Paddock

The old orchard was one of the few  parts of the garden which already existed when we arrived. Sadly, many of the apple trees were very old and had been neglected but we managed to save about half of them and planted other apples, plums, gages and a mulberry to fill the gaps. The first photo shows the new boundary of the orchard with the drive; we have trained double-u cordon apples and pears to make a living fence, with a short lavender hedge at the base. The other side of the orchard had an ugly privet hedge which was full of ivy and after several years we took this out, intending to replant with yew. However, taking out the privet opened up the orchard to the paddock and instead we just marked the boundary with a border of alliums, followed by native wild flowers (see below)