The house is set in 2½ acres of land which is mainly very steep paddocks with an area around the house which has been well loved in the past, but has become overgrown in the last few years. I am a keen gardener and am gradually fighting back the jungle. The garden is south facing with terraced lawn and flower bed. It rises up to the back of the garden into a natural slate rock face.
      There are many mature trees including an oak and copper beech. The house is covered with a wonderful wisteria and honeysuckle the scent of which is overwhelming on warm evenings. 
     In the spring the garden is full of primroses, hellebores and many varieties of spring bulb followed by rhododendrons and other blossom. By June the borders by the house come into their own with lavenders, geranium and penstemons in pinks and blues with pots of lilies by the front door. There are many fuchsia bushes that are so characteristic of the village.
   There is a grass lane from the house down to the road with dry stone walls full of wild flowers including violets, bluebells, old mans beard and wild strawberries, to list but a few.
Years of neglect may make hard work for gardeners but perfect habitat for wildlife. For me one of the great pleasures of gardening is not what I can cultivate but what chooses to come and live here. The bird life is just amazing. We have many kinds of finch including my favorite, the goldfinch, great tits, blue tits and coal tits who fight over the nuts hanging by the window in winter, the nuthatch with its distinctive upside down eating habits. There is a gang of goldcrest, several wrens and robins who will eat from your hand. On sunny days the local buzzards soar above the valley and I have even watched a sparrow hawk hunting. Apart from the birds we have toads,  lizards and slow worms. Also a wonderful collection of moths, butterflies and insects. 
There is a good selection of books in the house to help identify the creature and wild flowers that you may see.
Gardening at Grey Cottage is more a matter of holding back an abundance of plant life,  but I hope that by next spring I will have a vegetable patch underway and have already planted several fruit trees and am growing herbs and salad amongst the flower beds. I don't aspire to self-sufficiency, mainly due to the lack of hours in the day, but I enjoy nothing more than harvesting food fresh from the garden and being able to serve it within a few hours. while the flavours and texture are still perfect.