Where do you get inspiration for the garden?

My inspiration comes from nature and from the surrounding World Heritage landscape. Allan Bank is a 19^th century designed landscape garden, a romantic craggy woodland pleasure ground nestled between lake and mountains. It’s a garden of light and shade, stone and water, mossy rocks, lichens and ferns.

This landscape inspired the Romantic poets, including William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, both of whom lived here. I often feel their spirit in the garden and share their reverence for nature. Allan Bank has been a well-loved home for many families.

That atmosphere of warmth and community inspires me to create a haven of peace and tranquillity where people and nature can continue to thrive alongside each other.

Which flowers do you like best in the garden?

Oh that’s hard, I have favourites for every season. Snowdrops always lift my spirits, and I adore hellebores. Woodland plants are wonderful; shy and retiring but just as pretty as their show off cousins in the herbaceous border.

Bluebells, wild garlic, red campion, wood anemones and celandines all do well here. The one plant I couldn’t be without is the foxglove. They’re so beautiful and useful and I love to sit near them and watch bumblebees busily foraging.

What tips do you have for other gardeners?

Sometimes success is about what you don’t do when gardening in harmony with nature. For example, avoid cutting hedges during bird nesting season, mow the lawn less often and leave areas of longer grass so you can see which species are present in your garden.

No Mow May is a fantastic initiative and means you can have a mix of traditional lawns with mini meadows. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to tidy up in autumn and winter. Leaves in corners, neat piles of branches and standing plant material provides cosy homes for overwintering insects, hedgehogs and small mammals.

Be observant and take the time to relax and watch the comings and goings of wildlife in your garden.

Which is your favourite part of the garden?

I enjoy sitting beside the small reservoir on the woodland edge through the Victorian tunnel. It’s a peaceful corner of the woodland pleasure ground and an all-round sensory experience.

There’s the sound of running water, the gentle rustle of the breeze in the tree canopy, woodpeckers drumming in early spring and the occasional plop of frogs dropping into the pond. It’s particularly beautiful at bluebell time, and in autumn when red squirrels are burying hazelnuts for their winter food stores.

What wildlife do you get currently?

We have a colony of red squirrels sharing the garden with us. They’re so charming and charismatic, I never tire of watching them. We also have badgers who like to tear up the lawns and moles who do the same. Stoats, roe deer, red deer. Tawny owls, buzzards, many species of garden & woodland birds and the occasional heron prowling around the reservoir.

We’ve spotted voles, elephant hawk moth caterpillars, butterflies, bumblebees and beetles. Rather excitingly a pine marten was recently seen on one of our cameras in the woodland. Sometimes the resident wildlife can be a challenge, particularly the deer who eat everything. We must live and let live as to be honest I feel we’re in their space not the other way around.

Gardening sustainably with nature at the heart of everything we do may occasionally require a degree of compromise, but it’s more than worth it for the rewards of living alongside wildlife and seeing how much pleasure it brings our visitors.

How do you attract/look after the wildlife?

We provide supplementary feed all year round for birds and red squirrels; sunflower hearts and shell on hazelnuts are the preferred food. We’re fortunate to have the expertise of Grasmere red squirrel group who do a fantastic job of supporting us in protecting our colony.

We use arisings from woodland management and storm damage to create habitat piles and try to avoid disturbing piles of leaves and branches especially in winter. Plants for pollinators is very important, especially early in the season when food sources are scarce.

What steps do you take to keep it 'tidy' whilst being wildlife friendly?

Main visitor routes are kept tidy and safe as Allan Bank is open to the public during the Winter. We clear paths and lawns but allow Autumn leaves to lie on the ground in the margins. Leaving areas of long grass is great for wildlife so we mow paths through meadows to balance visitor access with habitat.

Wildflowers self-seed sensibly and we scythe our meadows to reduce strimming. Dead hedges are an excellent way of ‘tidying’ branches blown down in storms. They make attractive features on the woodland edge, providing shelter and safe corridors for wildlife to move around the garden.

Mulching beds and borders supress weeds, promotes soil health and keeps everything looking tidy and well maintained. It's finding the right balance between a natural romantic aesthetic and the desired standard of presentation in a public garden.

What are your future plans for helping wildlife?

We aim to plant lots more spring bulbs, especially crocus and snowdrops. It's concerning that unseasonably mild winter days are bringing insects out when food sources are scarce, so providing pollen and nectar rich plants early in the season is vital.

We’ll also plant native wildflower plugs this autumn to make our meadows more species rich and biodiverse. Our wonderful garden volunteers will be helping us plant and we are inviting community volunteers to join us on Help Out days.

Our main project for 2025 is transforming the old kitchen garden into an orchard. We’ll be growing top fruit as well as ornamental trees for blossom and a mini forest garden.