Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Pond My Brother Built.....

I mentioned back in my July post about my sister Danielle's Garden that my other siblings are also gardeners and my brother David and his lovely wife Deb are hardscape builders extraordinaire.  They bought their beautiful property out in southwestern New Hampshire many years ago and have turned an older house that had seen better days into a beautiful and inviting country cottage with acres of hardscape and cottage gardens. It has major elevation changes that they have turned to their advantage.

Years ago they excavated the back of the house that had been filled with debris for years and discovered a driveway that circled the house. They turned the bottom of the driveway into a patio that can be accessed by the walk out sliders from the basement or the stairs from the covered porch all with breathtaking views of Mt. Monadnock.  The enclosed area you can see to the right of the crabapple tree is their very productive vegetable garden. They built all the fencing and trellises and it is as beautiful as it is functional.

Some views of the veggetable garden....





They even have a chicken coop in the veggie garden for her bantam chickens. Love it!

When you walk out the gate of the vegetable garden and look up the hill toward the house you can see the elevation change they've dealt with.  The rock wall you see in the center of this image is an old barn foundation. The old wall was falling down and David rebuilt and added to it over time to form a grass terrace. From that level there is another set of stone steps to get back up to the patio level.

To my mind though, the most remarkable feature they added was a boulder lined pond that is big enough to put a canoe in! The amount of labor involved in building something of this magnitude still boggles my mind. They used a backhoe for some of the larger boulders but a lot of this was done by hand. Incredible!

A closer view of some of the rock work in the steps. David and Deb, you rock! (so to speak)

17 comments:

  1. How beautiful! I can't imagine the time and physical labour this must have taken. Deanne, you have quite a family!

    Cheers,

    Julie

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  2. David and Deb, you've really done a spectacular job! It's all gorgeous, and the vegetable garden is every bit as beautiful to look at as everything else.
    Thanks for sharing your family, Deanne ;)
    Brenda

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    1. Indeed Brenda, they are amazing, in the middle of all that they've rebuilt most of the house as well

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  3. I seem to be getting increasingly allergic to these kinds of rock-moving, earth-shaping endeavors. I need a nap just looking at that pond! Nice to see that the genes run in the family ;)

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    1. LOL Denise, I'm getting the same feelings these days. I never used to hesitate at tackling a big project but lately the energy levels aren't what they used to be.

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  4. That sure is 'the granite state'. Great shots and a beautiful garden.

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    1. Too true Layanne, it is 'the granite state' indeed. Dave and Deb also own some wood lots near their home and they have the most amazing glacial erratic boulders in the wood lots. If you don't like rocks this isn't the place to live LOL

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  5. Yowser! Stone is my favorite garden ornament and that stonework is gorgeous! Nice job!

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    1. It really is an amazing piece of work Sue. YOu should see it in person sometime. They are only 35 minutes or so from Walker Farm in VT. He is building yet another gargantuan wall below the vegetable garden. I didn't get down there to get pics of it last weekend.

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  6. Truly some amazing feats of garden artistry here -- I agree re the shivers I get thinking of hauling all that stone by hand or truck! They've renovated a lovely property working with the geography there -- perfectly. Indeed, they are some serious veggie gardeners too arent they? Thanks for sharing, Deanne -- indeed, you have artistic genes and green thumbs abounding in your family! Cindy H.

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    1. Thanks Cindy, yes indeed we all garden in some way or other. David's energy and ability to deal with huge projects amaze me.

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  7. Well, I just can't wait to beg a tour of this the next time I'm in New England !

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    1. Would love to show you their gardens Kathy. Can you believe it was a year ago you were here????

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  8. What a fabulous garden. I love how the steps go down into the water. Obviously the gardening gene runs in the family.

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    1. Michelle, I love those steps too. During spring melt off that pond is full to the brim and that lower ledge is under water. They also have a waterfall that runs off a well but they don't keep it running 24/7.

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