Westonbury Mill Water Garden, Pembridge, Herefordshire

This is not really a review, but like the other Water Gardener pieces, is slightly more honest than most 'garden stories'. (aren't you fed up with 'garden stories'??!)

Richard Pim has spent his working life “playing with water” – irrigating deserts. He is a hydro geologist (a water engineer to you and me) and has worked principally in the Middle East and Africa evaluating water management systems for other people. And so, he tells me, making a water garden in Herefordshire – which is, after all, at the wetter side of the British Isles, - is “a nice distraction. It’s my mirage.” And, despite the dramatic contrast in climate and conditions, his models for his garden and the features in it have been the irrigation systems he saw in drought ridden parts of the world.

This water system really took off about six years ago, on the land surrounding a small water mill. The mill was powered by the Curl Brook, a tributary of the river Arrow, and it was used for grinding corn right up into the 1920s. Richard had been living at the mill for many years, and fifteen years ago had made a large pond for the benefit of the wild ducks.

Then six years ago he decided to make a garden, and, as you would, hired a digger for a week. He spent several days playing in the mud, creating boggy bits, ponds, - one with an island in the middle for a duck refuge, and a variety of connecting systems. There is impermeable boulder clay under the garden and a high water table, so retaining the water was no problem. Richard points out that the garden has always been enclosed by a bank, and so is, in effect, a big mill pond with areas of dry(ish) islands for the garden.

Richard is also a great recycler. He had the sad experience of having to clear dead elms from his boundaries, but these found new life in the African Hut Richard built for the garden as a reminder of his life in Africa. The giant reed mace, Typha latifloia, began to take over the ponds, and Richard dug out thousands of them – and used them to make a very authentic looking roof for the Hut. The hut now makes a good focal point at the far end of the garden, and destination to the garden tour.

From the African Hut you may then look back at the other major garden feature, the castellated Tower. This is another of Richard’s builds. The bottom of the tower is a summer house; the top offers a pigeon loft. Near the top are two gargoyles – these are Richard’s own sculptures – he took himself off to an evening class to learn how to make them. You will note that, as Richard himself told me, he “likes making things.”

If you then venture round the far side of the tower you’ll find a miniature water wheel zooming round at a great rate, powered by a shoot. Richard’s plan is to use this wheel to drive a belt with a series of little cups along it. This will be attached to a pulley arranged so that the little cups will pick up water and take it to a tank at the top of the tower - whereupon the water will whoosh dramatically out of the mouths of the gargoyles.

The garden is in fact full of Richard’s creations – a ‘Monet Bridge’, a living willow tunnel and a pergola made from metal rods used for reinforcing concrete. And these are the star cast. The planting consists of the usual water garden suspects: skunk cabbages,(Lysichiton americanus and camtschatcensis) king cups,(Caltha palustris and ploypetela) ligularias,(dentata ‘Desdemona’, x hessei and przewalskii), hostas and a collection of the moisture loving primulas. They are in generous clumps and an association of yellow and purple ligularias is pleasing.

Richard tells me that he knew nothing about plants, so to make the garden he ordered the entire contents of two catalogues of moisture loving plants. They mostly grew away energetically after he dug in sand, manure and lots of well rotted compost to get them going. He freely admits that he doesn’t often visit other gardens, and his learning is clearly dedicated to the making rather than the planting, and design is not a serious issue here.

Nevertheless, the garden has featured on Gardener’s World, and they no doubt found it lovely.

If you have any comments to make about this review, please email me on anne@veddw.co.uk