Esme Neal
In 1955 my late husband, Dick Neal, purchased “Lockerbie” from a Mr Syd Morris. At that time there was an old house with a small garden – the outside fence was roughly on the line of the present lawn.
The garden was mainly planted with fruit trees – stone fruit, citrus, on all sides. These trees have all disappeared. The trellis along the back path (which is still here) was covered by the wisteria and grapes along the back of the house.
In the mid 60’s we extended the garden area to what it is today. Over the years we planted many trees, but found they were not suited. The soil was very poor and badly drained – quite disappointing. Shrubs, roses and shallow rooted plants were more satisfactory.
My son, Robert, built the stone wall in the early 1980’s which proved a good wind break.
The garden was never planned as a whole but just grew.
