As finances were tight the easiest and cheapest area to attack was the garden. Our first job was to get the grass back down to a manageable level. We had been given an extremely dangerous electric lawnmower, (it had no brake but worse than that it could be turned on without any interlock action) with this and the use of a scythe we managed to reduce the 5ft grass down to a sort of lawn.

In the Summer of 1987 we decide to split the garden into 3 areas (actually it was 4 but for description purposes we'll call it 3). Nearest the house we had somewhere for the children to play, the middle bit was the made into a formal garden with proper perennial borders and shrubs (all produced seeds or from cuttings taken from local parks) and the last 75 feet was a vegetable plot.

A couple of events had us change the last part (Sue's next pregnancy being the biggest influence) and we decided to start to design a garden that would attract wildlife.

So this happened at the end of 1988 and was put into action during the Spring of 1989. The end of the garden was transformed even though Sue still wanted a small more manageable vegetable plot.

The main habitat that we wanted in the garden was a hedge and this we did by purchasing the cheapest yearling (twigs) we could find. I wanted to build a woodland too and we started this by buying yearling trees as well, about 10 of them. We bought some shrubs too but have had to remove them due to their invasiveness. We have ended up (along with new plantings) with: Rowan, Mountain Ash, Oak, Bird Cherry, Holly, Hawthorn, Silver Birch. The cover is quite good now but in another 5 to 10 years we should have an almost 'wood'.

The hedge consists of: Beech, Hawthorn, Field Maple, Buckthorn, Privet, Hazel all of which are native and therefore create the best conditions for attracting wildlife which was the whole idea of the garden in the first place. Within the areas around the hedge and trees we sewed wild grass and woodland perennials; Oxslip, Cowslip, Primrose, Dog Violet, Sweet Violet, Wild Strawberry, Red and White Campion, Yellow Archangel, Jacob's Ladder, Aquilegia and of course some bi-enniel's too eg Foxglove. I'm sure there were many more but memories fade.

It wasn't until 1993 that I convinced Sue to give up the last remaining part of her vegetable plot so the we could add a pond. We set to work in the early Summer and Sue was able to dig most of it out while I was at work, we were able to get donations of old carpets to help line it and this did reduce the cost of the pond. So it was was complete by the Autumn of 1993, and one of the most fascinating sights was to watch the wildlife arrive on an almost daily basis.

When we started the garden room (as it is now fashionable to call it) we had a few acheiveable hopes and I will list these below, I will also add the ways that these hopes have advanced and what we would like to attract now.

Before the pond was installed we wanted to be able to see things like, butterflys, moths, hedgehogs, birds nesting etc. Nothing exciting but when we built the pond our hopes became more ambitious. Bats, Dragonfiles, Newts, Frogs. As our knowledge improved we started to become more specific with our hopes. Nesting Robins or to have our bat boxes inhabited would be wonderful. But, of course, as each of you dreams are realised you seem to set the new ones beyond achievement.

What we would like now is to have herds of Wilderbeast grazing our land, sharing it with Thompson's Gazelles and the occasional Zebra or Giraffe.

Seriously, both Sue and I would like a few more obscure animals vistiting our paradise, perhaps a Great Crested Newt, Slow Worms, Lizards, Grass Snakes even Adders, and any amount of different species of bat (other than the pipistrelle) But to finish off with I would dearly love to have a pair of breeding Robins. (that's not a spelling mistake!!!)

So there you have it a precee version of the history of our wildlife garden, hope it makes sense.