The Yeo Valley Organic Garden

In more detail

• September has given the opportunity to include a range of beautiful yellow perennials, from low-growing crocosmia and compact heleniums to tall kniphofia and swaying above them all the golden/yellow ray flowers of Rudbeckia laciniata 'Herbstonne'
• An added feature of the egg-shaped suspended hide is its glass floor providing a bird's-eye view of the stream beneath. Complementing its shape at the front of the garden are similarly shaped seed pods of Cardiocrinum giganteum

About the garden

The Yeo Valley Organic Garden provides a nature-filled experience incorporating habitats and plants found at Yeo Valley’s family-run organic garden in Somerset. It is designed to nurture soil health and biodiversity and support pollinators and other beneficial wildlife.

At the front of the garden an open perennial meadow is brimming with flowering plants, full of colour and scent. Sweeping walls divide the site, formed of carbon-rich biochar logs and rammed earth; a visual representation of soil health and the importance of keeping carbon in the soil.

An egg-shaped, steam-bent oak hide, representing soil fertility and health, is suspended over the fast-flowing stream that runs through the whole garden. It provides a place to relax, unwind and observe the natural environment and visiting wildlife.

The stream connects the different garden spaces and provides the calming sound of water. It begins at the top of a gentle hill flowing from a simple steel trough reflecting pool.

The woodland is full of fruiting and flowering trees such as medlar and quince alongside native species such as silver birch, hazel and hawthorn. This area represents land that could be used for woodland grazing.