Garden odyssey began with two dilapidated buildings

Kevin and Sheila Weedon moved to France 13 years ago because they are keen gardeners and wanted to buy a property with a large area of land which they knew they would not be able to afford in the UK.

They bought two dilapidated buildings in a 7,000m² field, in a picturesque valley, overlooked by Hautefort Château.

Now they have a home, gîtes and a large, established garden with several different themed areas, including an English cottage garden, an Italian gravel garden, a white parterre-style garden, a formal lily pond, wild flower borders, an ornamental potager, a long rose arbour, two English long borders, and trees, shrubs and perennials.

Being in a valley means the land is sheltered, but the position did prove a problem to start with as the soil is clay based and the ground became boggy in winter.

“We spent hours digging drains to get rid of the excess water”, says Mr Weedon. “There were no trees, so we planted several, and they take up the water. Now the situation is controlled and the advantage is that there is still always some moisture in the underlying clay, so that it never completely dries out in long, dry summers.”

Their biggest challenge is facing up to a climate which can be very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer, and as all gardeners know, unpredictable: “The late frosts in April ruined our fig and apple harvests as it came at the wrong time.

“The cold winters mean we have to dig up all our dahlias and overwinter them. But gardening is never easy and there’s not much we can do about the weather.”

They are creating a rhododendron and azalea feature in the form of a ying-yang raised bed with a “sun-hive”, natural bee hive.

To read about more gardens to visit in September, see the latest edition of The Connexion, on sale in newsagents and available to buy here.

The Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts scheme encourages garden owners of all nationalities to open up their gardens, big and small to the public, to raise funds for charity. For more Open Gardens to explore, or to open up your own garden to visitors, please visit the website.