We built this summer house in the style of a beach hut, as a memorial to my mum. It was to keep her ashes in (dads have since joined her). But it is much more than that - it is a permanent art installation as well. My art work is very museum like, it is the historical cabinets of curiosity that inspire me. The photo below will give you an idea of what it looks like inside. There is a wonderful atmosphere inside, I often just go and sit in there with the door shut and close my eyes... 
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 We built this structure last summer - the wood is all reclaimed. Most of it had belonged in a nursery school garden I think as there were big wooden animals attached as well as lots of random paint daubs! We cut one of the large panels in half, giving us two ends - then all we needed to do was make a top. Once it was all stained forest green it looked great! We already had this rustic bench in the garden, so we moved it over into the shelter. We built three wooden planters, the third one is in the centre round the other side. I planted jasmine and lavender at the front, and passion flower and lavender round the back. Hopefully it will be a beautifully fragrant place to sit. I often use jasmine and lavender oils together in the house and as a temple balm - so I know their calming properties. Can you see the two verdigris peacocks on the top? Behind them is our dove cotte - for many years we kept beautiful, free flying, white fantailed doves. But last year they were constantly harassed by sparrow hawks - and now there are none. If you look at the rainy day picture below, you can see that when we sit on this bench we have a lovely view of the pond, and can hear the running water.
 There is nothing like the smell of rain after a long dry spell. It came down in what my mum would have called 'stair rods'. Washing the dust away, refreshing everything it touched. The poor grass was looking more like a beach than a lawn. We do not do 'knife and fork' gardening, we leave areas wild as much as possible. Over by the barns is our wild swathe, it is full of buttercups, Ox Eyed daisies, Peggles, nettles and other wild flowers. The greenery at the far end and the left side is part of our traditional Old English Hedgerow.
Our pond was here when we moved in, 17 years ago - but it had been filled in. My kids decided to dig it out one day - the stuff we found in it, lol! It has been extended several times and now has three areas, the main pond, which is kept netted to keep the fish safe - on the left is a shallow rock pool for the wild life to drink and bathe in - at the back is a lily pond.  Top left: Lola, Barley and Fudge - all rescue dogs. Top right: Lola, Beth and Cody - all rescue dogs, but only Lola is left now. Bottom left: Barley and Fudge - both rescues. Middle is Raven and Bracken, a mischievous pair of pups - bottom right is Lola and Raven again. We have rescued four rotties over the last 18 years, we love them, unfortunately they do not have a very long life span.
Our baby Tawny Owls - the one that is being held has just been 'rung' so it can be identified at a later date. This is our fourth successful clutch over about seven years, we often hear the adults 'twit-twooing'.  below: grass snake - giant green bush cricket - bunnies - juvenile gold finches - swallows  below: baby toad - baby toad - common lizard - Mr & Mrs Toad - common lizard Our garden is on the migration path for frogs, toads, lizards and newts - we see lots of them.  We also have foxes, badgers and deer - sparrow hawks, buzzards and kites - goldfinch, bullfinch and chaffinch.
Grass snakes and adders - Great Crested newts, Smooth newts and Palmate newts - and so many more.... I live in a tiny hamlet on the edge of Colchester, Essex, in the UK Colchester is Britains oldest recorded town! A few years before we came to live here, 17 years ago, it was a dairy farm - so we are surrounded by lots of quiet countryside. The view at the top of this page is the back meadow - there is a big lake opposite us, a water meadow at the side of us and hundreds of trees all around.
Never a day goes by without us saying how lucky we are to live here.
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