@Lizzie @Rebecca181 @Alexandra316 @Michael956 @Fred13
Most of my guests seem to come from city apartment living where there is not much opportunity to have an outdoor space. Somewhere private where they can sit amongst flowers and things with a cup of coffee or a wine and a cigarette. Most of them are Asian and they really appreaciate the tranquility, far removed from their everyday lives.
@Alexandra316 I am not so sure that it needs to be neat and pristine! Sure grass cut and dea flowers removed but sometimes our rear garden is ankle deep in leaves but nobody minds that!
Like @Rebecca181 I have some guests who just prefer to sit with a book rather than go out and explore. For that reason I have made all four of my outdoor seating areas very comfortable, a couple of them in outrageous style. These chairs are obviously not designed for external use but they are so comfortable, and each night the covers go over them to keep the possums and birds off them. They look outrageous and ridiculous but that is the whole idea...something you will never come across anywhere else!
I call this my 'Tribal Council Area'....for those who watch 'Survivor'!
Add an outrageous comfy chair or two!
The great thing about a garden is, it takes you on a journey. I was fortunate to have taken a few before and after photos, not just of the house and cottage which are great to look back on, but the garden as well.
The first day be came around the corner and looked at the back yard after parting with our hard earned cash, we thought we were totally mad......The first shot is after I mowed the waist high grass so we could walk through it. There is an upside down clothes line in there somewhere!
But we made something of it and got a mass of joy doing it and watching it take shape and repay our (my) hard work and Ade's planning.
I am finding as we transform it, we bring in the other locals which delight the guests but do a great deal of damage......Possums are a continual menace, they eat the juiciest flowers and fruit from the trees and leave a hell of a mess. And over the past couple months we seem to have picked up a resident Koala! Almost each night it keeps tripping the sensor lights, and being surprisingly heavy, tramples the garden wherever he/she chooses to sit on it's nocturnal wanderings. I think it comes into our garden for water as it has been really dry here all this year and I have a couple of bird baths and a fish pond, so I leave a tap dripping which is their favourite way of drinking...
The guest just love these diversions and are ecstatic when they can take a picture of a Koala right outside their door. Have not been able to get close enough to pat it yet but I am working on it and I keep getting a supply of fresh Eucalyptus leaves to try and gain it's trust.
The garden is a joy and having 4 different outdoor seating areas gives guests a peacefull quiet place to relax during the warmer months. I have set ashtrays up at the various outdoor tables so they can puff their heads off without being a problem to anyone else.
I look back on my before and after shots often and always get a thrill out of seeing how we are going.
The only before/after shot I am not crazy about is this one....time can be sort of cruel.
Cheers........Rob