Evelyns Garden
- SOME WORDS FROM HALEY
I bought her back in 2018 and slowly over the following years converted her into a beautiful, sacred space Which I lived in for many moons
After downsizing to a minibus, so I could travel around more easily. I had some healthy encouragement from friends with an idea to rent the horsebox out to see how others would perceive the lifestyle I live.
I had lots of lovely feedback where the garden grew in popularity, and Lady Evelyn the Horsebox very quickly escalated to Evelynsgarden.uk where I erected gorgeous canvas bell tents to compliment her and give guests more choices! Evelyn’s Garden is slowly growing organically into a wild retreat, with a few changes being carved along the journey.
The horsebox has now nestled into her new retirement location. Freeing up space for more wonderful canvas abodes overlooking Penny’s lovely hay meadow field, right upon the ridgeway walk. It’s my home garden, which I wish to share with anyone who wants to come and create magical stories with. I am your full-time host, bell tent keeper, and space holder.
All we ask, from host to guests, is that you respect the spaces provided. call or message at any time with any problems or questions, I’m here to make sure you have a great experience! With love, Wild
about DOWN BARN FARM
- A note from Penny. Our lovely farm/land owner of where Evelyn’s garden is nestled.
The farm is a 100 acres and was originally part of a larger family estate. I bought it in l992 from the daughter who had been left it when her father died early. She and her husband had built most of the bungalow house and put up the two green Dutch barns because there had only been a sheep dip on the site although it is shown on maps from the nineteenth and eighteenth century. There are a lot of ‘Down Barns’ on the Ridgeway Downs so that the shepherds could gather and dip the sheep that were grazed all over.
My husband had died two years earlier and I had sold other properties and had been attracted to Down Barn Farm because it is in an area which is very good for riding. I had a few head of cattle and two horses at that time and my children were at university.
A few years on and I had bred more of my Beef Shorthorn cattle and bought one or two more horses as I was doing some competitive Endurance riding. The Beef Shorthorns were at that time a Rare Breed but I found them easy to manage and thought that their coat colour of ‘Red, white or Roan’ was pleasing and made the individuals more easy to distinguish than if they had been all black like Aberdeen Angus or cream like Charolais. As it happens, the breed, which is the oldest cattle breed to have a recorded pedigree book, has now become quite ‘commercial’ because the cattle can produce good beef from grass and hay alone which is more eco friendly and healthier for humans than from animals fed on grain.
I also bought another, even rarer breed, the Tamworth pigs. They are still very few and far between because they need to live outdoors and cannot be part of an intensive pig unit. The pork is however tasty with lots of crackling!
In l995 I converted the farm to Organic status. This was not hard to do as I had never believed in pesticides or herbicides and there was no need to spend money on artificial fertilisers with all the manure from the cattle and horses. The animals only needed to have antibiotics on very rare occasions, for welfare reasons only.
I found that the farm was very useful for people walking the Ridgeway Path and until recently I did quite a bit of B&B and have always also welcomed campers – and this is now continuing with Evelyns Garden.
Penny
