The Story of Our Garden
John and I bought Stillingfleet Lodge in 1975; it was an unloved farmhouse that had been empty for over a year. There was very little garden, mainly a vegetable plot with no shrubs or trees. The remaining three acres was grassland.
Our aim then was to live "the Good Life," by going organic and self-sufficient. I had read Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and we wanted to do our bit to change the way food was produced. For 10 years the land produced our own meat, cheese, yoghurt, butter, cream and vegetables. Our family grew too, with two of our children being born here.
With all the developments in the garden, we have always had a central ethos of sustainability in the garden - a message which even more important today. We aim to inspire a new generation of organic gardeners and show that a garden can be both beautiful and environmentally friendly.
You can read more about how the nursery, garden and tea room have developed over the years here.
Peace and Tranquility
Most of the comments we get from visitors is how peaceful and tranquil the garden is. They love hearing the bird song and the bees buzzing or just relaxing on one of the many seats dotted around the garden. Throughout the garden you are likely to catch a glimpse of the birds and insects that we encourage into our garden. Our wide selection of trees and shrubs provide food and cover as well as year round interest in the garden. No wildlife friendly garden should be without a pond and ours is home to many native species. Our wildflower meadow is now well established and well worth a visit to see just how full of life a true lowland meadow should be.
Although most of the garden is informal, we added the very formal rill garden ten years ago. This is a beautiful place to relax and listen to the running water.
Wildlife Pond
Trees and Shrubs
Rill
Garden
Wildlife Gardening
If you want to learn more about how to encourage wildlife in your garden I would highly recommend you either join us on one of our workshops or visit us with the family on the wildlife day. Our plant nursery is full of beautiful herbaceous plants that are perfect for encouraging insects to your garden; have a chat with one of us on your visit to find out the perfect plant for your garden. When you visit you can't miss the poultry that roam freely in the garden. Not only do they provide us with eggs, but they are an important part of our environmentally friendly garden management.
Gardening
for Wildlife
Workshops and Events
Wildlife Day
Plant Nursery
Testimonials
"Lovely gardens, really good to see the plants actually in position then be able to buy them. Well done. lovely time - beautiful cake." Michelle R, September 2025
"Enjoyed the visit very much, from the coffee and cakes on arrival to the plant nursery at the end. Garden are fabulous - a hidden gem. Everyone very helpful - thank you. We look forward to returning in the spring." P. Johnson, September 2025
"Lovely coffee and cakes! Fascinating gardens. What a lovely garden, lots of inspiration, loved the varied planting/textures. So much work has gone into creating a beautiful, peaceful garden. Thoroughly enjoyed our visit." Gregory C, September 2025
"Love your garden (and your hens) and sculptures. Love all your tall plants - not often seen when modern gardens are now much smaller." Rose C. September 2025
"Lovely visit, garden is beautiful and such an inspiration. Plants excellent and I don't hesitate to recommend to those with shady gardens." Hannah, Aug 2025
"Very peaceful, lots of different smaller plots showing a lovely variety of plants." Sheila, Aug 2025
"Thank you from our hearts for the dedication and time you invest in your lovely garden. Thanks for sharing it with us! Many greetings from two happy people visiting from Germany!" A & R, Aug 2025
"A beautiful, serene and calming garden. I really enjoy its 'uncommercialness." Paul B, Aug 2025
"It was such a joy to join Vanessa on the guided walk. I noticed much more than I do when walking around on my own and Vanessa is always happy to share her extensive plant and garden experience. I had left feeling came home inspired and with a few plants from the nursery to continue to enjoy." Charles Aug 2025
"Very restful and relaxing - feeling at peace with the world! Very,very good fruit cake. Thank You" G.W. August 2025
"Variety of trees amazing. Lots of lovely smaller garden areas/'rooms'. Particularly enjoyed the Rill Garden - modern/calming. Wildflower meadow lovely to see so many butterflies/wildlife. Cakes delicious!" August 2025
"Love the way plants are left to do their own thing - very nice walk ways, lots of colour and scent. Perfect" Annette J, June 2025
"Good use of space and multiple garden rooms. Love the way they meander. Good variety of plants. Lots of seating in the shade." July 2025
"Loved the lightly managed effect of the garden. Lots of plants I wasn't familiar with - gets more unusual as time goes by! Geraniums are my favourite plants to grow." Jo B, June 2025
“Lovely to still be able to visit a real life garden and ‘proper’ nursery. Too many garden centres are now only selling lifestyle products and the garden is lost amongst ‘tat’.” Linda T, May 2025
"Such a great variety of plants. And so naturally planted and designed. Really feel we were visiting a family garden. Great cup of tea and cake too. Very nice touch to have a little play area for small children. Thank you!" GC, May 2025
"It was lovely, inspirational, congratulations on a most beautiful garden. I loved seeing the before and after photo's in the cafe." Diane T, July 2025
"We greatly appreciated the warm welcome upon entry and in the tearoom. Beautiful and tranquil gardens and characterful roosters and doves. Most impressed with sustainability at Stillingfleet." David B, May 2025
"A fantastic garden and well worth the visit. The ethos and ethical considerations are second to none." Natalie A, May 2025
'We had a lovely peaceful visit and very much enjoyed the variety of unusual plants and the interesting layout of the gardens. lots of inspiration for us to take home with us. Thank you.' Rick L, May 2025
"It is a lovely garden, very serene the day we came. We like the traditional cottage garden feel. The wire sculptures and statures were in a good setting." Mr & Mrs C, May 2025
"The gardens are all beautiful with plenty of places to take everything in. The handouts and boards were very informative and we were very impressed with the layout and sustainability." Tracy H, May 2025
"How wonderful to experience a private garden like this. So tenderly cared for and shared with others. Thank you! The best slice of fruit cake I've eaten in years. Delicious!!" Margaret H, May 2025
"Didn't know what to expect, but blown away by what we saw. Fifty years of love and dedication shows iteself at every turn. Tranquil and magical., love the peace and quiet." Richard F, May 2025
"It is a lovely garden, very serene the day we came. We like the traditional cottage garden feel. The wire sculptures and statues were in a good setting." Mr & Mrs C, May 2025
“A lovely initimate garden full of character and unusual plants. Picnic table in the car park was helpful!” Jennifer, April 2025
“Its amazing. The wire animals are very clever we just can’t believe this could be anyone’s garden! (The cat is cute)” Kerri and family, April 2025 
“Always beautiful, whatever season, nursery plentiful and unusual.” Angie, April 2025
“We like the scale, the variety of plants, especially the blossom just now – planning really clever – all a delight, thank you.” Gail, April 2025
A wonderful garden full of interest – textures, structures, colour, form etc. So pleased I’ve got a season ticket to enable to return all season.” Sue S, April 2025
“We were looking for somewhere different to visit on a lovely day and came across your gardens on Google Maps. After checking out the website we set off and were delighted by what we found. Lovely and peaceful with a variety of trees and plants that has inspired us to improve our own modest garden.” Mike R, April 2025
“It was lovely! The checklist for my son with things to spot was an excellent touch.” SG, April 2025
More of our story
There were no trees when we arrived and we were very exposed to the south west gales. We planted a shelter belt of mainly native tree, this has been essential, allowing us to grow a wider range of plants.
To begin with the only part of the garden we developed was the Front Garden. This was surrounded by a hawthorn hedge and had at sometime been the farmhouse garden. After our fourth child was born in 1980 we extended this to develop the areas that are now the Pear Tree Garden and the Wattle Garden
When our youngest child started nursery school I went to Askham Bryan College. I started propagating, put up a poly tunnel and used to open a few weekends a year to sell plants. After taking redundancy, a Government Enterprise scheme supported me for a year allowing us to open the plant nursery on a regular basis. We bought two second-hand poly tunnels and even produced a small catalogue!
Stock beds became the border
The first of the borders in the Avenue was dug and planted up as a stock bed with the second border planted the following year. We never planned to have long double borders; they started out as a way of having more stock plants to propagate from.
As the children were growing up and leaving home, we no longer needed the livestock: our lives were changing.
We had always been interested in making the garden as wildlife friendly as possible. By now we had well established trees, shrubs and undergrowth for wildlife but no water in the garden. We asked the Farm and Wildlife Advisory Group for help, they took soil cores and found two suitable sites to locate a pond without using a plastic liner. Read more about our pond here
They also told us that where we had sheep was ancient lowland meadow and we ought to look after it. Read more about the meadow here.
Into the 21st Century
We removed the original poly tunnel near the house which gave us a rectangular space with hedges on either side. Here I decided to make a completely different garden and in 2007 the Rill Garden was the result. Read about the Rill Garden here.
We were asked where we grew our vegetables and so the Vegetable Garden was opened in 2011. It is a family garden so we only grow what we like to eat and there will be gaps and spaces where we have removed vegetables to eat,
The tea room was developed in the barn in the winter of 2007 after the wet summer had meant visitors having a miserable time with nowhere to shelter. We no longer needed the barn for livestock, so it made the ideal place to shelter and enjoy refreshments. Read more about the tea room here.
The Playing Area is an area of lawn with swings and games suitable for small children; my grandchildren have races and play badminton there. It is also where we have most of the activities on our Annual Wildlife Day as shown above.
For fifteen years I held the National Collection of Pulmonaria. There are still many unusual and rare varieties in the garden including P. 'Stillingfleet Meg' pictured. They make excellent spring flowers and can be bought in the nursery. Read our full list of Pulmonarias here.
Whilst we are not planning to develop anymore areas the garden is continually evolving. Each year we remove trees and shrubs that have outgrown their space and add more plants to the borders. The general maintenance of the garden is an all round job too.