Our Gardens
The 2.5 acre organic garden overlooks the Touques valley with wonderful views of the Normandy countryside.
Our garden slopes gently downhill towards the river Touques, so the other side of the valley almost appears to be part of our garden. This area is very lush with hundreds of shades of green. We are very fond of Herbaceous perennials which feature largely in the garden. We are creating a series of garden rooms with different themes.
We have started to plant hedges of different types to separate the rooms, using beech, hornbeam, box and yew.

Around the terrace area where we serve meals on warm evenings, we have colourful mixed borders. Shrubs with good form and flower such as Hebe, Weigela, Cistus, Lavender, Photinia, Viburnum and Ceanothus are interspersed with herbaceous spikes of Delphinium, Lupins, Campanulas, Salvias. Added colour comes from Californian and Shirley Poppies, Godetia, Clarkia, Echium, and many more.

We have a large spring-fed pond with huge koi carp that we brought from our pond in England! There is plenty of wildlife, particularly for the keen bird-watcher (we have seen kingfishers, herons, hobby, kestrel, buzzards, sparrowhawk, moorhens, green woodpecker, great and lesser spotted woodpeckers, nuthatch, treecreepers, cirl buntings, serins, hawfinches and crested tits in the garden to name a but a few!). Our pond is very calming and relaxing, we intend to keep it very natural. We are introducing native wild flowers here.

Also in this area is a lovely old half timbered building which used to be the pressoir (cider press) The old stone base is still there. Part of this building serves as the 'chicken and goose house' We have many different varieties of chicken, all different sizes and colours. They are completely free range and their eggs are delicious! We have lots of animals, chickens, geese, ducks, guinea fowl, rabbits, 2 lovely friendly sheep and lots of cats! Our garden is a wonderful place for children to play, and enjoy the fresh air and learn about nature. Children love to join us when we feed the chickens and ducks and collect their eggs!

In this area we have started planting an orchard from 2001 to produce apples, plums, pears, quinces, chestnuts and walnuts to use in the restaurant. We have established organic Vegetable and Herb garden set out in long beds surrounded by railway sleepers. We produce a huge amount, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Haricot, Courgettes, Herbs etc. We also have a very productive soft fruit garden with strawberries, black, white and red currants, loganberries, raspberries, gooseberries and blackberries, which we use to make ice creams and sorbets for the restaurant.
There are benches and chairs all around the garden where one can sit and enjoy the surroundings or enjoy a cup of tea (or glass of wine) with home-made cake.