"The Times Back Garden of the Year 2006"

Back Garden of the Year
Stephen Anderton begins his countdown of the winning plots: Week one, the runners up


"Some journalists are sent to war zones; I get to look round gardens, which is fine by me. My idea of heaven, in fact. And in June I was looking round your gardens, judging the shortlisted entries in this year’s best back garden competition; what wonderful places there were to see – sophisticated, rustic, large, small, all made with serious care"

Runner up: Best New Garden

What a recipe for success is sandy soil and a high water table. You can see the proof at David and Elaine Rolfe’s garden near Abergavenny, which was started four years ago and looks as if it has been there 20.

The Rolfes work from home in web design and building computers, and have eight children between the ages of 7 and 19. They are also foster parents; sometimes there are as many as 11 children in the house. ‘‘We wanted a house for eight,” says David. “This was for rent – it’s an old mill – so here we are. But there were no plans for a garden.”

But Elaine started to devour gardening magazines and to visit local gardens. She wanted something other than the rhododendrons favoured by the neighbours. “I imagined something softer and richer, like Abbey Dore in Herefordshire, with winding paths and flowers.” Within months, she was planting a half-acre garden, then a sheep field containing one lilac and two roses. David built the structures – gazebos, arches, seats and a chinchilla cage.

“There are hardly any full-price plants,” says Elaine. “I go for the bargains. Sometimes I buy plants without labels. I feel sorry for them, like orphans. I also got loads of plants from my mother’s garden.”

The result is a garden rich in flowers and at its peak in July when the herbaceous plants are in full fling. It is slightly sunk under the drive and tall walls and outbuildings, except on one side where it borders a field and a stream. It feels like a walled garden, full of grass paths and enclosures topped with swags of climbers.

Down one side is a generous border, passing from deep red through yellow to blue. Blue Solanum ‘Glasnevin’ winds into cardoons underplanted with hostas. Tall alliums shine alongside purple lupins. Bordering the field is a stream bed, where marginal plants thrive – astilbes, candelabra primulas, Libertia ixioides and monkey flowers.

The garden also has plenty of height. There are birches, Prunus serrula, contorted willows and bamboos. It’s the sheer energy of the place that earned it its votes. As in any new garden, time will call for some editing, but what a business-like start. The garden is even open for the National Gardens Scheme, and the children, rewarded with a choice of home-made cakes, help man the gate.