I'm thrilled to say the Wildlife Friendly Eco House Garden I designed in Winchelsea Beach is a finalist in the Society of Garden Designers Awards 2022! To be a finalist in these fantastic awards for a second year running is totally amazing.
It's a coastal garden right by the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve with a drought tolerant gravel garden in the front and a perennial wildflower meadow, raised vegetable beds, orchard trees, pond and bog garden in the rear garden. The house has a Biocell sewage treatment system, rainwater harvesting and an air source heat pump, but with these come a number of manholes and inspection covers; the long grass of the perennial wildflower meadow hides these and is a great habitat for wildlife and nectar source for pollinating insects, which in turn are fantastic fodder for the bats.
There was a planning condition that the garden must have plenty of native plants and provide habitat for the resident pipistrelle bats that were being displaced by the build of a new Eco house on the site which was being built to replace the dilapidated existing house. A new Schwegler bat box was out up on the new house and I am pleased to say the pipistrelle bats took up residence in it the first spring after the build! Fantastic result!
This garden and all the finalists are all featured in Homes & Gardens online.
