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Ruin in the garden

dianadarkdianadark Posts: 4
in Garden design

Just watching 'Big Dreams, Small Spaces' and fascinated by the lady would wants a ruin.  I also wanted a ruin so built one last year.  Mine is supposed to be the corner of an old cottage.  I have a fireplace, my husband made window sill as part of a broken window and I have a sink planted up with alpines.  In fact the whole project was for a place to grow alpines!

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  • KT53KT53 Posts: 8,472

    It's not something I would want in my garden, but it looked good nonetheless.

  • dianadarkdianadark Posts: 4

    image This is mine

    I was so pleased someone else wanted one...most people thought I was mad!  I collected old bricks for ages so it didn't cost that much.

  • B3B3 Posts: 26,500

    I've got an old garage with an asbestos roof and a door that doesn't open.

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Linda Taylor2 2103213618Linda Taylor2 2103213618 Posts: 400

    Diana, that looks really good, and it does't dominate the overall look of the garden. I'm sure the lady last night was very pleased with it, but I wouldn't want to spend that sort of money!

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 8,472

    One thing it is very effective at is providing height in a flat garden.  As DHR says, so many rockeries end up looking like dog cemeteries.

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 22,631

    It looks good, Diana, and well done for it not costing too much. The lady last night spent thousands!

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,645

    I like your ruin.  It looks proportionate and seems well planted.

    We have a ruin but it's the old farmhouse that was on this plot so has 2 stories, fireplaces, windows, and so on.   We use it to store compost and pots and shelter hosepipes thru winter and will otherwise ignore it  The last owners used it for storing old bikes, a pair of oars and a pair of skis.   Someone before them built a stall for pigs and put a wooden threshing machine upstairs..........  

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • dianadarkdianadark Posts: 4

    Thanks folks.  My husband treated me to the barn owl ornament!   Obelixx, your ruin has an interesting history.

    imageThis is a better view of the rockery, newly finished and not fully planted up. Also a little bridge made by my husband, over a small pond.

  • CloggieCloggie Posts: 1,457

    I was inspired by the lady in the Small Spaces programme, I started to think about a folly that might reflect a nearby Abbey that I think used to own this land/garden.  I think she was very brave and the result was fabulous and if she wants to spend thousands on it then why not?  I'd hate anyone to analyse what I spend my money on! image  It's a great structure for climbers.

    B3 I have the same as you - old garage, asbestos roof and a door that only has one key, big hole in it and it doesn't shut properly but not for long...!!   On Tuesday next week the men in masks are coming to take the roof away.  hooray!

  • CloggieCloggie Posts: 1,457

    What it made me think of actually was the garden I saw at Chelsea in 2015 (the one and only time I've been)  where a ruin was created with an airman (which was amazing in the way it was created).  I have a link here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02rw6wn/p02rw6cy

    Hope it works.

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