The Cwm
Hidden deep at the bottom of the garden is the Fernant stream, overgrown with fantastical branches of willow covered in mosses and lichens. The polar opposite of the Magic Garden at the top.
The atmosphere here is of woodland sprites and running water another worldly feeling which is strangely calming. A place to sit quietly.
I have tried to practice a light hand here succumbing only to some Dicksonia antarctica, Woodwardia and a few cultivated ferns amongst the natives, which are predominant. Brambles are removed and that is all the cultivation that takes place. We built a boardwalk to create access and left a makeshift – if not rickety – wooden bench behind us. When rain is exceptional the whole area floods, when dry the stream is low but normally there are rushing little waterfalls and gulleys. Occasionally the sun pierces right through.