Something is happening at Sudbrook Cottage

The impressive collection of machinery is a convincing sign that something significant s happening at Sudbrook Cottage in Ham Gate Avenue. And while it happens the dollops of red enliven the scene wonderfully.

Sudbrook Cottage and Sudbrooke Cottages

This sign, while distinctly charming, is not the sign that I was looking for, though it does tell half the story.

I had always assumed that the terrance of cottages close to Ormeley Lodge on Ham Gate Avenue were called Sudbrook Cottages and the end one (made famous by Beverly Nichols) was, as the sign proclaims, Sudbrook Cottage but the Royal Mail Postcode Finder tells another story. That tells me that the other cotttages are called Sudbrooke Cottages, with an "e". The Royal Mail is the one source of truth on addresses so this must be true.

Garden open soon

Sudbrook Cottage has the best gardens in Ham (probably) so I am delighted to see that they will be open on Sunday 24 April from 2pm to 5pm. A visit is mandatory for anyone interested in gardens and I will definitely be there. They are raising money for charity too.

When I visited the gardens in 2012 I wrote a short piece about the garden and its history which will give you some idea of what to expect.

Work at Sudbrook Cottages

Something is happening at Sudbrook Cottages in Ham Gate Avenue and, as always, I was pleased to seem the jumble of the work in progress and excited by the expectation of the finished result.

Lion on guard

The back garden at Sudbrook Cottage is (justifiably) famous and the little front garden is not bad either. It has recently undergone some minor modifications and now has this proud lion to guard it.

Sudbrook Cottages

Sudbrook Cottage and its neighbours have gone through some bug changes over the years but through all that they have kept their charm and they still look like a pretty row of small cottages.

Some of them have been combined to make bigger dwellings and a closer look reveals where doors and windows used to be.

The semi-rural setting and the tidy front gardens help too. Putting all that together makes these one of the cutest rows of cottages locally. Others can be found on Ham Common (west side), Wiggins Lane (pointers Cottages) and Sandpits Road (Pooles Cottages).

Classic pond

My final picture from Ham Open Gardens 2011 is once again from the luscious garden at Sudbrook Cottage which was easily the best find of the day. And I've saved the main feature to last.

The round pond in a square hole has classic pretensions and looks old, which I suppose it is as fifty is a lot of pond years. It's all very Capability Brown. Which is good.

Table, chairs and pots

Even when doing just a simple table and chairs on the lawn, Sudbrook Cottage manages to make something a little special. The circle of stone sets the scene and the ring of plant pots adds the finishing touch.

Long border and other things

Continuing our walk through the garden at Sudbrook Cottage takes us from the sunken area to the main lawn with edged with a wide border of flowers and all contained by an old and pretty brick wall.

Normally all that would be enough to justify appearing here but the attention to detail that is the main characteristic of Sudbrook Cottage plays its part here and within the border there is a hedge protecting a seat and two large stone balls protecting the hedge.

Sunken garden

Our tour of the garden at Sudbrook Cottage continues with the sunken garden. This sits quietly in the north-west corner of the garden, which means that it captures the sun for most of the day.

Privacy is maintained by the large walls that form the boundary of the garden and by low hedges that define this section. The few steps down to it mean that even the low hedges are sufficient to keep prying eyes away.

Seats within the sunken garden let you linger and appreciate the trees and neat shrubs, as well as the flower borders sheltering under the walls.

Bench and pots

There is so much to like about the garden at Sudbrook Cottage from the overall design that sweeps the garden smoothly around the house to the many rich details that arrest your gaze as you try to take it all in one.

In this one little part of the large garden we have a need clean bench sitting on bricks with a clutch of complementary white flowers bursting out of the pot next to it and another pot keeping watch from the safety of the border behind.

Garden door at Sudbrook Cottage

The one garden that we all wanted to see at Ham Open Gardens 2011 was Sudbrook Cottage, not least because it was originally created by Beverley Nicholas who wrote about it in his Sudbrook Trilogy starting with Garden Open Today.

The other reason for wanting to see it was the promise given by the front garden there which is small but neat, ordered and colourful.

Entrance to the garden is via a quaint door in the long brick wall that sweeps along Ham Gate Avenue back towards Ham Common. On crossing the threshold the first thing that you notice is the side of the cottage that looks just as pretty as the front garden for all the same reasons.

Sudbrook Cottages

Sudbrook Cottages in Ham Gate Avenue look gorgeous all year round thanks to the earth brown bricks, the classic windows and the pleasing proportions, but they look even better when all the plants nearby are in leaf and flower.