The last volunteer working party of 2023 continued work around the View Garden adjacent to the old Stables on Napier Miles Road. Cherry laurel was again our target and the dense thickets along the west side of the lost garden area as well as another spot of interest; this was what looks to be another designed rockery area next to the original viewpoint at the far north-west of the garden site.

It’s been satisfying to address the encroachment of the laurel across this area, where felling gives such an instant impact. Volunteers worked quickly on the area around the viewpoint, transforming it before lunchtime and revealing a huge sweet chestnut tree that much have once formed part of the  Victorian garden design. Sadly, any prospect from the viewing point across the Severn would be impossible to restore for the number of trees that now obscure it.

Work along Kings Weston Lane Removed the errant laurels that threatened to push out across the road. The removal of these has also improved the visibility on the awkward junction with Napier Miles Road and the entrance to Kings Weston house itself, the removal of the dense shrubbery having opened a clearer view in the mirror used to check oncoming traffic coming up the hill.
 
The open space now restored on this corner still retains the native trees that have seeded themselves through the laurel, but the rest would be a good spot for the grubbing-up of brambles and reseeding with meadow grass. The now-open bank along Napier Miles Road also offers an opportunity for bulb planting in the Autumn.