Garden & shore

The ground in front of the house is mown grass running out to a fence and then falling away through rougher pasture to the water. There are old oak, ash and chestnut across it, a rope swing hung from one of them, and a bench where the view opens up.

It marks the seasons: there are daffodils in March, blossom and a slope solid with bluebells in April, orchids in the grass through June, flag iris down by the water, bracken and bonfires in the autumn and frosts in the winter.

Below the pasture the land turns to rock. At low water there are pools and weed and a long shelf of stone to walk out along; the canoe lives pulled up above the tideline. Otters, herons and seals all use this stretch of shore.