The Felin Rhisglog Garden

About the garden

I have known Felin Rhisglog all my life as I was born a short distance away but it has only belonged to us since 1975. Freehold properties rarely come on the market here so this was, for us, a miracle. And still is.

It is one acre, on a steep hillside, on rock. The challenge of gardening in these conditions has proved an advantage because everything we have asked to grow here has had to be carefully chosen.

Felin Rhisglog means ‘the mill on the wood bark stream‘

The obvious questions first; ericaceous, wind resistant, west coast frost tolerant. How will it cope with the direction of the prevailing wind and the probable hours of sunshine. If we omit a vital question we pay the price. In February this year a very precious self-sown oak tree succumbed to one of the storms and revealed its roots clinging to only inches of soil.

I married a real gardener and will reap the rewards as long as I live.

It is hard now to remember that our Spring Garden was once a sitka plantation that he personally scrubbed out by hand and that it was he who built all the stone walls that define the garden.