An Artist, Not.
Not to scale
A little while ago Janet and Cathy asked me if I could draw up a map of the garden, to make it easier to see how the different areas fit together. C’est voilà. It will never hang in the Tate, but I hope it meets its intended purpose.
The trees are more densely planted than this, but for clarity I’ve left most of them out. There are trees between the lawn and the river and the woodland extends outwards in all directions. The Cabin/Workshop looks as if it is about to fall down. It probably is. Just not necessarily in the direction indicated on the drawing. The greenhouse is decidedly wonky. Must work on perspective. And I realised, after I’d inked it all in and scanned it, I forgot to put a door on the Man Shed. There must be something deeply significant about that..
You’ve also forgotten to draw in Woodrow, Ptolemy, Ptolemy Too and the mice, squirrels and deer….
They don’t stay still long enough, that’s the problem!
Maybe not quite up to Tate standard, but it gets the information across.
I’d say definitely not up to Tate standard, even Modern.. thanks Cumbrian.
I love seeing a birds eye view of your property, gives a much better understanding of the various sections of your gardens and property. Great idea.
It also got me thinking, as I was drawing it, about the changes I’d like to make. It will evolve.
Brilliant – so much easier to picture all the places you mention now. Cheers 🙂
I’m glad it helps!
Thanks for the picture, it gives a good idea of where everything is .
You’re welcome Pauline, it was quite fun to do!
I love this map! Especially the wiggly trees! I think the map should be your new header so we can have a reference point when you take us around the land!
Wiggly trees are the only sort I can do!
Hello! I love your map and it is great to see what goes where, I can picture things better in my mind already and it will help in the future too. You should frame your picture and put it on your wall, I think that it is really good and I am very impressed that you drew it in 3D, that is amazing. Give yourself the credit where it is due Jessica!! xx
I will need to update it as we do stuff.. I was hoping for another veg bed (below the first two) this year, but it’s way too wet to work out there at the moment.
Well, I think it is an excellent map, it reminds me of the one in Wind in The Willows showing where Ratty and all the other animals live. Now we can see perfectly where everything is. Except you haven’t marked where your snowdrops grow.
I was thinking of Winnie the Pooh too… plenty of suitable locations for Eeyore’s gloomy patch!
The snowdrops are, for the most part, up the sides of the 84 steps.
Job well done Jessica. I often struggle with with maps and plans but yours is pleasing to the eye and easy to comprehend. I’m intrigued as to the differences between Man Shed and Tool Shed so do please enlighten me 🙂
Ahhh! The Man Shed is more of a den. It has a workbench and is the place where things are constructed and much time is spent. I was thinking that my omission of a door might be an unconscious suggestion of keeping someone in there..? Except that the damn shed even has a phone extension. If I were to shut him in he could summon assistance. The Tool Shed is where the mower and other garden stuff goes. It is also Mouse HQ.
Looks great and makes me envy your property!
It’s badly run down Sue = lots of work!
It’s brilliant, I love it. I can picture some of the areas, and it’s nice to see how it all fits together. Is there a girl shed somewhere?
The girl (potting) shed is currently part of the cabin. Although lately there have been suggestions of a takeover bid on the basis that the Man Shed is structurally unsound. This means I will have to shift along a bit. It also means that the tranquil pastime of potting will be constantly interrupted by the sound of saws and drills. Negotiations are at a delicate stage.
Your map is not only informative, it’s utterly delightful! Treasure it.
Thanks Freda! I was amazed it turned out as well as it did if I’m honest.
Great! Makes it so much easier to relate to your photos – and makes me soooo jealous of the size of your garden!!
It is too big really, more than we can cope with possibly. Luckily the fact that much of it is covered in trees means that it can be ignored! If I can get control over the terraces, the bank and the veg beds I will be happy for now.
Well, as a dauber I think its brilliant!
Thanks Jill. It was a bit more straightforward than a hairy coo!
Just what was needed – thanks Jessica! Sorry to keep you so busy, but could you put another ‘page’ on your blog so we can access it when we need to, please? ps I know the difference between a man shed and a tool shed, but at least our man shed has a door!
I do need to have a bit of a pages rethink anyway. As a temporary measure I will put it under ‘About’
It is a map with character!
I don’t think I’d ever make it at design school!
Thank you, it’s lovely and it all makes much more sense now!
My pleasure… and everything is white!
Wonderful, Jessica. I shall keep it on hand for future posts!
I will find it a proper home before too long. Thanks Wendy.
When I saw your heading, I thought “wonderful, it isn’t just me who can’t draw” ……… then I saw your delightful map!
Anne, it isn’t. Zoom in and you will see all the rubbings out!
Great map, helps us to makes sense of your many challenges. Where’s the funicular railway? Oh, the man hasn’t quite built it yet…..
Hmmm… I will add it to his blackboard.
Actually, you’ve done a rather smashin’ job. It is good to see the complete area. I must say there are lots of surprises here….a cabin? wonderful….derelict pond??? would love to see more of that…..what an interesting plot you have.xxx
I just hope we don’t get frogs spawning in the ‘pond’, it doesn’t hold its water long enough and I’ve nowhere else to put them. The river is too fast flowing. Scroll down and hit the pond tag, there’s a picture.
Sorry, I’m being stupid…….but scroll down on what?….xxx
Sorry, my fault. If you go right down to the bottom of the page to the footer you should find a list of Tags. Click on Pond. There’s only one post there and it includes a picture of a very derelict pond.
Alternatively, here’s the link:
http://www.rustyduck.net/2013/12/18/stripped
It would make a wonderful cross-stitch pattern, Jessica. And if you ever want to get rid of some of your land, you can always ship a bit across here to Kent!!
I would like to make space for some chickens somewhere. The trouble is we get a lot of foxes, even in broad daylight.
It’s a super drawing of your gardens! I would frame a copy and hang it! Add to your resume after gardener, upholsterer, restorer, now garden illustrator. I’m sure there are many people who love a sketch or their gardens.
It doesn’t bear close scrutiny, but might have a bit of value in a hundred years or so as rustic art!
What a brilliant drawing it reminds me of a painting by numbers. I especially like how you have got the roof of the cottage to look like thatch. Not sure if you have missed a step or two though!
I think I missed a good many steps! I keep spotting a whole load of other things I missed too. Essential things like the bird table. Thanks Viv.
Let me be the first to comment here…..it is a bloody miracle, Jessica!
Your map is so cute…I love it! And….yes…you ARE an artist!
Your comments and replies always give me such a laugh….love your blog!
Cheers!
Linda :o)
Thanks Linda. Have a lovely holiday!
P.S. I moved your comment back to the mainstream, thought you might get lonely out there with the picture, Hope that’s OK. 🙂
Oh, i love that you did this drawing, Jessica. Now I’ll have a better idea about what you are talking about when you tell us about things in your blog. Hugs, Natalie 🙂
I hope it helps Natalie. Thanks.
I’m impressed, I think this should be in every post so we can refer to it always. 84 steps sounds very steep, what’s the difference in level approx.?
I shall either give it a page of its own or put it under the ‘About’ section.
I should think it’s 40-50 feet from the top of the hill down to the house level, and perhaps 30 feet down from the house to the river. Very approx.!
Good idea to draw that plan. Now we know more about your lovely patch of the world.
Thanks Vera. I do hope your lovely patch is now less wet.
Love it & makes it much clearer for me to imagine how it all fits together; great drawing !
Thanks Penny.
I now feel as if I can take a virtual walk around your garden Jessica.
A virtual walk is about all I’m doing at the moment Rosemary, it’s a swamp out there.
I absolutely love it. Perhaps some splashy watercolour next time? It does its job and I;m now much clearer as to where everything is. May be using it as a map soon…..
Oh-er… I’ll need you to teach me how to do that!
I saw something similar at one of the NT places we visited last year and thought it might work for here.
Hurrah, thank you!! I love it, particularly the lack of a door on the man shed. Says so much… I’m tempted to suggest the addition of contour lines, given how steep it all is, but this is splendid. What a fun – and challenging – area to garden, so much space, but mostly inconveniently angled. You’ll never be bored… And it really will help add context to your posts.
I’m so glad you like it! I had tried indicating a drop off down to the river, railway cutting style, but it didn’t really work!
You clever girl, and thank you, it does make visualising things much easier.
I know from my experience of mapping Bag End that it is MUCH harder than it looks.
It puts me in mind of all the things I want to change though, that is the problem!
Thanks for the map of your garden and land – very artistic and much appreciated as I’m always picturing places in my mind, love maps in general and sketch maps in books.
Like you I love maps, but sketch maps in books are particularly fascinating. There is a humorous version to this one I’d like to work up sometime, Winnie the Pooh style.
I really, really like home made maps and this is quite a gem; and wjat a picture it paints of you, avoiding the rain, industrious with your fine tipped pens. Brilliant.
Thanks Colleen. It will evolve for sure, I had good fun doing it. Thankfully from memory though, no rain involved!
You have SO MUCH SPACE! My neighbors and I are nut-to-butt and I wish I had more privacy. Love the doorless man shed. That will teach him a lesson!
Nut-to-butt.. I love it. You Americans have such a wonderful turn of phrase!
Now you see why I will be following your dry shade experiments so closely.
The map is so good and helps us to visualize your lovely home and garden.
Sarah x
Thanks Sarah. A hand drawn map is like photography, you can leave out the less than pretty bits.
Thank you for doing that for us. I can picture it all so much better now! Julie x
You’re welcome Julie 🙂
Quite a challenging garden from the look of it – loved the sketch.
Especially challenging for the knees. They have started to creak. Thanks Elaine.
I love maps and I love this. There are so many similarities between your space and mine – size, slope, falling over sheds and greenhouses. I have been so absent from my garden in recent months that a wander around makes me hyperventilate. Any map would need to show the extensive areas of creeping buttercup…
In my case it’s ground elder. What a shame I can’t draw it… 🙂
Brilliant idea, I can tell you there are absolutely no similarities between your garden and mine-sadly (for me that is).
Ah, but you live by the sea, which I would love!
Having a big garden also makes you a slave to it, there is little time for much else.
Well that puts everything in to perspective now when you mention each area in your posts. You’ve got so much interest in your garden, I don’t think your blog posts will ever dry up, there’s plenty there to blog about for years to come.
And to work on Jo. Sometimes I wish I had a magic wand.
Consumed with envy. My mother, aunt and uncle were raised on Dartmoor, arriving as refugees from France in around 1940. My father was also born in Devon. A man shed, a river and a greenhouse! Heaven indeed.
Hi Charles and welcome to rusty duck!
We moved to Devon relatively recently, but I have become very fond of it… apart from the weather! One of the reasons we came down here was to get more space to garden. Possibly though I have bitten off more than I can chew!
You did a great job! It will be wonderful.
Thanks Natalie, I hope so… easy to draw, harder to achieve!
I love this, now I can visualise where everything is 🙂
It came out better than I thought it might, so everything is broadly where it should be. Thanks Cherie.
Hehe, yes, I was wondering what you thought was the meaning in leaving the door off the Man shed. Was it to keep him in or keep him out?
In! 🙂