Frappis is over the moon today and can’t stop looking at himself in this month’s addition of Venkov & Styl... and I’m also very happy!
It’s often very hard to see the progress you’ve made in a garden especially if it’s over a period of 15 years. So seeing it in a beautiful magazine is really a treat and it reminds me how far the garden has come.
When I started the garden here at No19 I’d like to say there was a grand plan, but in reality there were conflicting ideas, unrealistic goals, and not enough knowledge about how we were going to do it never mind maintain it. If I’m honest, we just wanted a beautiful garden. But this is maybe how many gardens start out.
Over the years things have changed and when I came to live at No 19, I was able to dedicate a lot of time to working on and maintaining the house and garden here. For me this garden has been, and still is an education. Every time I want to do something new, plant something different, or resolve a problem, it starts with looking it up and learning about it. I would love to say I know it all but it’s far from the truth and this is why gardening is so wonderful.
The garden has also been a real group effort. Originally inspired by my father and his girlfriend Dorothy, we came here for holidays and worked on the garden together. Over the years friends and family have all added their contribution. My friend and neighbor Dušan, has spent 12 years helping me do the heavy jobs. Four years ago my best friend Rob came to live at No 19 to finish writing his books, but in reality, he has probably ended working just as much on the garden. This patch of land has brought people together from all over the world and this makes me so happy.
Gardening is also great for keeping in shape! Yesterday I cut 18 of the topiary yew trees in the main beds in front of the house, it took me 4 hours and there are so many more to do. This morning my arms are aching like crazy. It beats going to the gym and is a little more productive.
Anyone who has a garden and loves gardening has good and bad moments. I was chatting with a lady on Facebook this morning who has been worn down by Ground Elder, and who wouldn’t be? You can work at it all you like, but the ultimate result is just going to be a Ground Elder free bed.
Maybe the real reward for gardening is internal. To be able to look at your garden and know the work you’ve put into it - this is probably as good as it gets… and most of the time that’s enough. Today I feel lucky enough to be able to look at this magazine and see my garden in print, and for this I’m very thankful 💚
Below is a google translation of the Czech article that accompanies these pictures in the Magazine Venkov & Styl.
A small piece of England
In the picturesque landscape of the Bohemian Central Mountains in the listed village of Starý Týn stands a house with a romantic garden inspired by the famous gardens of the English countryside.
Photo caption:
The main flower parterre in front of the house is enlivened by a water element with water lilies and a fountain lined with a living boxwood fence, in contrast to the straight lines, lavender grows here unrestrained.
Main text:
When they meet a sense of beauty, dexterous hands, inexhaustible creative energy and hard work with a love of gardening and honest craftsmanship, something unforgettable must always arise, and so is the house with the garden of Englishman Nick Adam Lawes, who took it from his native Nottingham, across London and Milano straight to the remote village near Úštěk. His family there bought a former Sudeten farm in the 1990s, then converted into "apartment buildings" and used it for summer holidays. Nick, who is a fashion designer and artist by profession, fell in love with Český Středohoří so much that he said goodbye to busy Milan and set out on an uncertain, but all the more adventurous life journey, and moved to Starý Týn permanently. With a minimum of finances and no knowledge of construction, he began to reconstruct the house and build the garden with the help of instructional videos on the Internet. The resulting style naturally combines English, Italian, Czech and German influences, and instead it breathes a unique atmosphere. Garden gravel paths take you through richly flowering perennial beds with shantas, lupines, bells, carnations, eagles and foxgloves, from which shrubs of historical and English roses rise around a square fountain, to the lowest level of the garden with a pond, from where a breathtaking view opens up. panorama of Bohemian Central Mountains. For Nick, the garden is a never-ending work in which, as he says, not only he imprints himself, but also his family or friends leave their mark here, when they bring him some 'flea catch' or a new rose, which he still has in his collection. does not, or just puts his hand to the work. Nick created from an initially unsightly place, a space where souls begin to dance at the first step. The house with the number nineteen is starting to return the energy after ten years of efforts, as its sustainable, textile accessories made of quality residual English fabrics sewn under its own brands fromno19 (from number 19) like more and more customers not only from the Czech Republic but also from all over the world.
Photo caption:
Homeowner designer Nick Adam Lawes (left) with his best friends - gardener Rob and German Shepherd Luca.
The nameless dying rose from the sale in England got a new life in the north of Bohemia, after cutting and transplanting into nutrient soil it blooms more richly every year.
In every corner of the garden you will come across a small surprise - an artifact from antiquity, ingeniously planted pots with patina or benches inviting you to sit.
Statuette photo:
Most garden sandstone and concrete sculptures, statuettes and sculptures have been purchased over the years in antiques or flea markets in England.
Caption for the photo with the cat:
One of Nick's eleven, mostly found cats - the Frapis cat with the historic rose 'Gloire de France' in the background.
Photo caption:
The intoxicatingly fragrant historic Damascus rose Ispahan ’and the Gallic rose La Négresse’ in jars with hand-sewn packaging made of residual English upholstery are just one of the dozens of rose cultivars that Nick's Garden is proud of. At the beginning of June, when historical and English roses begin to bloom, literally a feast of the senses awaits every visitor to the garden, opulent flowers in many colors smell, here citrus, here myrrh or blackberries and who has not yet tried tea or jam from rose petals loses a lot .
Terracotta pots with geraniums open the main entrance. Sandstone-lined doors are one of many architectural features that the skilled owner himself repaired or replaced after the house underwent a series of insensitive construction interventions during the 1970s and 1980s. The entire eastern façade of the house was then overgrown with lush wisteria, which spreads a sweet floral scent into the adjacent garden at the time of flowering and provides shelter for the chirping birds.
Before Nick's arrival, the garden was full of discarded objects with dilapidated sheds. After several months of cleaning up the land, a phase of building and transforming into a place full of life that will remind Nick of home could finally take place. The first part was the formal part, in the center of which Nick placed a fountain with water lilies, which is now inhabited by newts and frogs.
Photo caption:
Garden house - former garage, growing with climbing roses' Francois Juranville, is reflected in a natural lake.