About

Salthill Gardens

Originally a classic kitchen garden, featuring vegetable beds around the perimeter and a large green house, the garden has been transformed into an idyllic space which features elements of structure – soft pink gravel paths, Mountcharles sandstone flags and stone walls softened with trees, plants, shrubs and flowers which flow over the paths, climb the walls and creep through the flags. There is a sense of formality but also a wonderful sense of freedom – everything is allowed to ramble in an organised manner.

Elizabeth started working on the garden in 1985, the plot was a blank canvas to work in – walls over 100 years old, some vegetable beds, a long empty greenhouse and grass. Today the walls are barely visible – now covered with delicate pink, white and yellow climbing roses, plum and apple trees. The vegetables – leeks, spinach, potatoes, onions to name a few grow in perfectly shaped ridges. The greenhouse is bursting with the heady scents of lilies and jasmine. Tomatoes grow at one end – endless winter soups. There remains a small area of grass in the middle of vivid herbaceous boarders with grass paths winding through. A small potting shed leans against the back wall, a quiet space for seedlings in the winter. Beautifully crafted stone structures form part of the top section which includes a ‘secret’ beech room.