At the bottom of the garden
When we first took on Milliners, a 15th Century former long hall in Sudbury, Suffolk we knew the house was a project. Unloved and with very little improvement for probably15 years, we had to have a go and put our mark on it. The garden, though, won us over but was also a project, more of that in later stories. The summerhouse was also somewhat of a project but we could see opportunity there for future use, indeed its used more than the house and we thought would provide a useful base for us to be when the larger renovation projects in the house take place.
Here’s the story.
The summerhouse was in most peoples eyes fit only for demolition having been neglected inside and out. The roof leaked and the gutters drained onto the front doors, rotting them away over a period of probably 5 years
Quite a mess
Inside was as bad as outside, The first job was clearing the stuff inside as you could just squeeze in. It was packed with all manner of things.
The last owners were keen gardeners, so gardening books, desks, cupboards, shelves, garden furniture, but pretty much shot and of no use. That said there were some old oak cupboards which had rotted away but i managed to salvage a lot of oak sheets of wood to be used even today for other things.
We managed to move a lot of stuff on freecycle a really useful resource. this was after we had cleared most of the rubbish that was inside
Once we cleared the summerhouse out we tackled the two most important things to make it watertight, the roof and the front doors.
The front doors came first and fitting them made a difference straight away, a local joinery company had measured up and made them for us and our builder mate Rod, fitted them. Inside was a mess and we began adding creature comforts to make it more liveable.
We had to do something with the flooring outside and opted for a indian sandstone to give us a lovely bright sundrenched area, as the whole summerhouse faced south and had sun almost all day.
To save some money I’d agreed that I would lift the slabs and put them in safe palce for collectiing. Popping them on Freecyle they were collected wihtin a couple of days. A local Man was relaying his drive and loved the old concete slabs. Some of the larger ones weighed in at over 75 kilos!
Being a keen outdoor cook I had to have an outdoor kitchen, covered that would accommodate my BBQ. I added a cast iron gas hob and a freezer as well as cupboards picked up on e bay. I also built a firepit and grill, to hone my outdoor cooking skills, you can read more about that in the food section.
We even have a projector and internet connection to enjoy films and shows, projected onto the blind which closes the place up every evening but doubles as a screen. In the very hot summer days of 2022, we had an outdor screen and projected onto that whilst enjoying the comfort of the summer house sofa. Having all the doors open as the heat, even in the late evening was unbearable.
Finally an area complete with everything you could want for outdoor living.
Our little place at the bottom of the garden is enjoyed by us at every moment.
A wonderful place to sit and enjoy something from my BBQ toils an a nice cold drink.
One unusual, we like to think original, idea was one of our indian sanstone paving slabs had fossilised ferns in it, so we thought why not display it as a picture.
The heaviest picture I’ve every hung, but lit with a hidden spot light of an evening makes quite a feature.
For more stories about the garden, the next part of the garden would be what we call The Tunnel
We hope you’ve enjoyed and been inspired by some of our ideas.We did all of the work we've shown you on a very tight budget, doing as much as we could ourselves. Contractors are expensive but you can still make savings by doing some work that they are overskilled to do. For example the old paving stones - I lifted them put them in a place where they could be collected and 1 day on freecycle and they were all collected and re-purposed saving us a fortune on contractors costs and skip hire to take them away.Alway use the skills you have to do the work that contractors are overqualified to do, it will save you a small fortune.Please get in touch and let us know what you think.