One of the things that really sold Ley Farm to us was the kitchen garden – finally proper space to grow vegetables instead of squeezing too many things into pots and taking over the flower beds in our London postage-stamp garden!! It’s a beautiful space between the farmhouse and the shed, and in front of the Elizabethan cottage – and is a proper sun-trap in the summer.
Our kitchen garden when we moved in – mangetout, borage and weeds!
However, once we actually moved in, we realised it needed a reasonable amount of maintenance before we could plant anything. The stone walls at the end had started to fall apart, with great big gaps where stones used to be. And the wooden vegetable beds, which would have looked amazing when first built with slate linings and corner decorations, were rotting and collapsing. We decided it was better to start afresh than to make do for a year, and then attempt to replace them once the fruit bushes had established themselves.
We started replacing the raised beds a couple of months ago, but had to stop when we realised that once the new beds were in, we’d have no space to repair the stone walls. So – gifted with dry weather this weekend, we set about repairing the walls. We very quickly realised how ambitious our timings were, and that there was no way we were going to finish it in one weekend. By the time we had the equipment and materials in the right place, and had cleared the walls of dead ivy and other debris on Saturday, it wasn’t worth starting – so instead we removed the old dead nectarine tree and sweet peas, and dug the holes ready for our new trees to arrive. Oh – and raked for what seemed like an eternity; not that you could really tell by Sunday morning!!
We managed to finish one of one of the walls on Sunday – repointing most of it and replacing the stones on the side and on the top. We’re eager to see what it looks like once the cement has dried – we’re anticipating a rather rustic look, but as long as it stays standing! The forecast now looks like rain for the coming weekend so it may be some time before we can finish the job…
It also looks like we didn’t manage to get the Aga serviced in time – with it now gradually losing heat while we try to cook dinner and various things already prepared. At least it happened now and not with visitors or at Christmas, I suppose!
The first finished wall (some greenery left to maintain the rustic look)!!
Ley Farm Cottages 
Well done on repairing one of the stone walls bordering the kitchen garden – looking good!
Hope you are able to get your Aga serviced soon so it’s back to full heat as required.
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