Location, location location

I sort of hinted at my location with my avatar picture...oh and I've put soil type in signature, just to have something to remind me

 

I love France - when OH was alive we always used to go there on holiday, but I don't have the confidence to drive there myself, everything is so much faster nowadays, no room for error.
Our soil is clay above a layer of iron sandstone. You don't have to dig very deep to strike rock - all the farmers 'fields are walled with it and we use a lot in the garden. The flower beds have been improved over the years and are fairly workable, but the clay is thick, grey water-retentive stuff that you could make pots with!

 

We are in East Devon. Our house is on the side of a fairly steep hill, and surrounded by trees. We have just under an acre and a half, of which half is mature woodland with some massive beech trees, and quite a few Scots pine. The rest is ‘cultivated’ but with loads of rhododendrons, camellias and pieris.
The soil is acidic, and very fertile, but not very deep. Underneath are ‘pobbles’ , stones ranging from egg size to head size, left over from when the area was under a prehistoric sea.
Because of the steep slope, from the south at the top, to the north at the bottom of the hill, much of the garden is shaded, not helped by three mature beech trees at the top of the hill. All our trees are protected by a blanket conservation order, as well as individual TPOs on some of the more ancient trees.
We love the amazing trees and shrubs, and all the wildlife. Not so keen when parts of it start to look like Jurassic Park while our backs are turned!

 

Height isn't everything... just 4 metres above sea level here. Quite sunny but its travelled further to reach us.

 

Definitely agree with you on that Punkdoc. We don't need anything specific location wise, just a guide to the area members live in.
.

Don't I know it! I've gradually moved up country through the years from Essex and retired here to the Highlands 7 years ago. I now live 14 miles from Inverness.

The soil in my garden is sandy loam on bedrock, is challenging along with the climate - and the deer.

 

That's the thing too @Sheal - there are huge differences between the east and west of Scotland in terms of climate and conditions. The east side has been getting our weather over the last 9 months or so though. Very difficult for farmers, and huge amounts of waste in autumn.

 

I agree with you on the differences between east and west @fairygirl. One bonus living nearer the east coast is the lack of midges here.

I lived on the Isle of Man for 24 years and the climate there, although warmer, was the same as the west coast of Scotland. I'm hoping for better weather this year being wet throughout last year.

 

Ah - the infamous Scottish midge @Sheal.
I used to have a saved site which had some footage which showed just how extensive they can be, just in case anyone was in doubt...
I'm quite lucky - they have to be pretty serious to bother me too much. It's only the females that bite, but they do it well!

I took a short break up to your neck of the woods some years ago, with both my daughters. We rented a cottage and had a lovely time. I managed to fit in B. Wyvis while I was there too. I took the girls across to Ullapool where we spent childhood holidays. Ardmair Bay. I took a little amount of my parent's ashes back there, so that they had the view across the bay to look at forever. My Dad was a Londoner, but he lived most of his life up here after meeting my Mum, and he loved the north west.
It was on the Isle of Man that they met.

 

@Fat Controller
Morning FC. I don't know what the requirements are now for joining (as I joined in the Jurassic era ) but can Location be a mandatory requirement because of the nature of the beast?

 

Hi Fairygirl glad to see you have moved over from GW and mentioned location as this is very important when asking for advice. Looking forward to hearing more words of gardening wisdom from you.

 

@fairygirl, when we (husband and I) were looking at areas to live we started our search in Dumfries & Galloway then moved on to Argyll. In transit early one morning we'd stopped off to give our dog a break in a layby and a huge swarm of midges came from nowhere. As you can imagine their intention was to devour us and the dog. We also made the mistake of leaving one of the car doors open and the inside was covered with them, so we shut ourselves in and spent a good amount of time swatting and using a damp cloth to get rid of them. A lesson well learnt!

Such a coincidence - Ullapool is our favourite place. 55 miles from where we live, we make a point of visiting there at least once a year. That would have been our first choice to live but at the time I needed to be within easy reach of the hospital at Inverness.

My other half is a Londoner and we met whilst working together there. And of course another coincidence that your parents met on the island.

Ullapool

 

I am another lover of NW Scotland, we regularly holiday around Gairloch and in my fitter days I climbed all the Munroes up there, including camping in the Great Wilderness and doing that group. Needless to say I was utterly savaged on that trip.

I am lucky to have travelled to a lot of countries, Gairloch is my favourite place on earth.

 

Good heavens, last time I went to Ullapool, many, many moons ago, that road was single track and had grass down the middle! The petrol gauge was on empty and we were desperate to reach the only garage for miles and miles. Desperate that was, until we met the midges. I have to say I hated the place and the B&B was awful.