When Natasha and Chris Williams left London after 20 years, it wasn’t simply for a change of scene – they were in search of a new way of living. When they became the custodians of an extraordinary garden in the Shropshire hills, they discovered just that. By Jessica Jonzen
THE EXTERIOR OF EDGE VILLA, WITH ITS ABUNDANT HERBACEOUS BORDERS. IMAGE: NATASHA WILLIAMS
The move out of London is a well-trodden path for young families. But while most are tethered by work to the capital’s commuter belt, Natasha and Chris Williams saw an opportunity for something altogether more radical. After a decade in Twickenham and another in Wandsworth, the couple — along with their children, Hattie, nine, and Arthur, six — were longing for more than just space.
Unable to find what they were looking for within budget in the Home Counties, they widened the net. “Our work no longer meant we had to be close to London, and the children were the perfect ages for a big move. We wanted an adventure,” says Natasha. “A friend in Twickenham told us about Shropshire, which is where she had grown up. Neither of us knew it and we were pleased to see what we could afford there.”
They quickly agreed: it would be the garden that sealed the deal. “Our parents are all very keen gardeners, and I’d been lucky to grow up in houses with romantic, rambling gardens, as opposed to anything too neat,” Natasha explains. “We had always made the most of the gardens we’d had in London and had taken on an allotment during lockdown — we really got the bug. We agreed that wherever we moved to would have to have a special garden.”
After three visits to a house with wonderful views but overly formal landscaping, they knew it wasn’t right. “It wasn’t the garden that I imagined our children running around and having fun in.” En route to viewings, they had driven past a handsome Georgian house perched at the top of a hill. Not long after, Natasha received a hush-hush call from their estate agent about a remarkable property coming onto the market. “We couldn’t believe it when we realised it was the house we’d admired,” she says.
THE GARDEN HAS FAR-REACHING VIEWS ACROSS THE STIPERSTONES, A DISTINCTIVE SHROPSHIRE HILL. IMAGE: NATASHA WILLIAMS
Driving up the narrow, winding road for the viewing, Natasha found herself wondering if they were making too big a leap from the urban life they knew. “But when we arrived and first set foot in the garden, that was it.” It was mid-May 2024. The wisteria and roses at the front of the house were in glorious bloom, irises unfurling their delicate petals. “We’d walked into our dream; I joked that I didn’t even need to see the house.”
The two-acre garden at Edge Villa — complete with its “Mr McGregor vegetable garden”, orchard, paddock, chickens, Wendy house, topiary and dozens of herbaceous borders — could not have been further from their small astro-turfed plot in Twickenham. This was no ordinary garden: its previous owners, Bill and Christine Neil, had opened it to the public as part of the National Open Garden Scheme for the past 18 years, raising £85,000 for charity.
A lesser couple might have balked at the responsibility. “Chris doesn’t really get fazed by too much – he will always find a way to make something happen,” Natasha says. “He said we’d get people to help us with the garden, that we’d manage, so that gave me the confidence that we could do it. The estate agent tried to reassure us that we could grass over certain things to make it easier, but it was so beautiful we couldn’t imagine doing that. I would have probably been more overwhelmed by a blank canvas. Everything was there, it just needed managing.”
They wrote to the Neils, explaining their intentions. “We wanted to be the custodians of their beautiful garden, to love and nurture it and for our children to grow up in its magic,” says Natasha. Their offer was accepted.
(LEFT) THE WHITE WISTERIA ARCH IN FULL BLOOM; (RIGHT) IRIS JAPONICA EN MASSE. IMAGES: NATASHA WILLIAMS
They moved in the first week of August, giving the children time to settle before school. The only condition: the Neils would hold one last Open Garden on 18th August, and Natasha and Chris would help them prepare.
While most new homeowners are learning how to operate the boiler or finding the box with the cutlery in it, the Williamses spent their first two weeks following Bill and Christine around the garden, notebooks in hand. Christine pointed out all the plants and marked winter bulbs with upturned hanging baskets so they wouldn’t be disturbed.
“I discovered plants I’d never seen before, such as a Cardiocrinum giganteum – a giant Himalayan lily that looks like it should be living in the rainforest rather than an English country garden. There are unusual Meconopsis, knowns as ‘blue poppies’, and rare snowdrops which Christine was given by the late Margaret Owen, one of the most celebrated plantswomen in the county; plants that most gardeners would think they couldn’t grow, but they are such great plantspeople they knew they could make them work here. It was clear to us that this was a garden that had had so much love and care poured into it.”
The Neils had started from scratch when they bought Edge Villa in 2003. The garden, then little more than a field, was home to two elderly donkeys and 30 beehives. At 400 metres above sea level, the site is exposed, so they planted yew, hornbeam, beech and box to create shelter — and keep out the deer — along with 62 trees, later thinning them for views of the Stiperstones beyond.
To keep rabbits at bay, they dug 18-inch-deep trenches and laid protective chicken wire around the perimeter. Forty tonnes of manure were needed for the new borders —supplied by the neighbouring farmer — and hedging was used to divide the space and tame the wind. Building work on the house yielded ample pallets, which became ten compost bays dotted around the garden. Today, these are rotated to feed the borders with homemade compost, leaf mulch and wood chippings.
THE PREVIOUS OWNERS PLANTED 62 TREES AS WELL AS HORNBEAM, YEW, BOX AND BEECH HEDGES TO PROTECT THE SITE FROM THE WIND. IMAGES: NATASHA WILLIAMS
Despite their years of hard work, the Neils were refreshingly unsentimental. “They assured us we could put our own stamp on it,” says Natasha. “But we wanted to keep it as it was, and the Open Garden gave us the chance to learn as much as we could from the people who had created it. We felt incredibly lucky to have that opportunity.”
On the day, 270 people came to visit. “It was a huge operation, and Christine had it down to a T — the whole community helped, donating cakes, pouring tea and washing up. It was such a special way for us to start our new life here.”
They have kept on the two gardeners: Jackie, who visits weekly, keeps a meticulous record of the garden’s rhythms and timings; and Dylan, who tackles the hedges and spreads the five tonnes of manure the garden needs annually. “Chris has taken on Bill’s role with the vegetable garden, and I do the borders. I’m bringing on the cosmos and sweet peas and deadheading constantly.”
The family has embraced rural life wholeheartedly — taking on Bill and Christine’s chickens, rearing their own turkeys for Christmas, and even raising pigs, which will be slaughtered later this summer. “The garden has become the anchor of our family life,” Natasha says. “Chris will be out in the vegetable garden with a cup of tea first thing in the morning. Arthur will be digging for worms and Hattie will be playing teddy bear’s picnics. I’ve started using a bell to call them all in for mealtimes. We barely ever watch TV in the evenings now — there’s always something we’d rather be doing in the garden.”
This month, Natasha and Chris will once again throw open the gates for their Open Garden event, with Bill and Christine lending their expert hands during the preparations. “This garden has changed our lives and as its new custodians we want to continue to share it. It has also made me better at asking for and accepting help,” Natasha says. “Thankfully, as well as passing on their knowledge, Bill and Christine have left us with the tea sets.”
NATASHA AND CHRIS WILLIAMS. IMAGES: NATASHA WILLIAMS
(LEFT) MECONOPSIS, KNOWN AS ‘BLUE POPPY’; (RIGHT) THE TOPIARY ADDS STRUCTURE TO THE GARDEN WHEN THE HERBACEOUS BORDERS DIE BACK IN WINTER. IMAGES: NATASHA WILLIAMS
ARTHUR AND HATTIE WITH THE FAMILY’S PIGS AND CHICKENS. IMAGES: NATASHA WILLIAMS
(LEFT) THE ALITEX GLASSHOUSE IS INTEGRAL TO THE GARDEN’S PRODUCTIVITY; (RIGHT) ASPARAGUS FROM THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. IMAGES: NATASHA WILLIAMS
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