a selection of our gardening hand tools in our trusty trug with a piece of despatched bramble at the back			Development of gardens at Springstone We never really had a garden here when we moved in - more of a field - but at least we had a nice blank canvas to work with, and lots of height and width to design for. We prefer larger gardens which are more of a landscape and can use trees and shrubs as they are a lot less maintenance than a small garden with lots of flowers - such a garden would look out of place here anyway. Initially it was a case of establishing boundaries and preparing areas for cultivating food along with planting an orchard and soft fruit, but over the years we have changed the shape of the land around the house with trees, shrubs and more hedgerows to create a thriving wildlife habitat from what was originally just pasture. By removing the choking mat of grass in some areas we have allowed a variety of wildflowers to re-establish themselves - re-awoken the seeds of poppies and campion and enabled the indigenous snowdrops, daffodils, bluebells and primroses to break through and flourish. We have also planted herbs in many areas and these, along with the wildflowers, produce an array of colour throughout the year which complements the 'untamed' look of our surroundings - the garish colours of many modern cultivars would simply look out of place.