The Pony Garden

The land surrounding the Pony Chew Valley houses our no-dig beds & poly-tunnels. Tended by the magnificent, ‘Tim the Gardener’, who grows and harvests the bounty of vegetables, herbs and fruit provided by the Pony Garden — which supply us at the Pony Chew Valley, often reaching us just minutes after they have been picked.

A wander through garden will take you past our herb troughs and beds; stepping down into the garden you’ll pass a collection of mighty cardoons — an ancestor of the globe artichoke — although edible they are grown for their magnificent structure and for the bees to enjoy. Further into the garden you’ll see Japanese wine berries, gooseberries and golden & Scottish raspberries.

Further into the garden you will find our fruit trees, now in their 8th year, named the Millard Orchard, after the Pony & Traps best local: Bruce. Bruce was born in the Pony his parents owned it and at that time it was known The Rising Sun. He would visit every day for a pint as his farm was just a stones throw from the pub on Knowle Hill and he was a chap worth knowing with a many great tales to tell. Needless to say he needed memorialising in our garden. We grow a variety of apples, pears and medlars which along with our plum tree at the top of the garden go into a lot of our puddings and chutneys.

A great many flowers grow in the garden — attracting bees and insects — this vibrant dash of colour creates a ‘bee-hotel’, and ensures we have a gentle, steady buzzing in the garden, it has inspired us to add hives to the garden in the future.

Wander further and you will find our poly tunnels, here we sew seeds and bring on seedlings; grow plants that require a more stable warmth than the outdoors; we dry heads and bulbs such as sunflowers, garlic and onions, to eat later in the season or dry out seeds to sew the following year.

We’re blessed with hedgerows full of elderflower which we pick to make elderflower cordial & flavour vinegar. We leave the rest to develop into elderberries they make a garnish for game meats.

In our no-dig beds - you will see that we grow a wealth of different vegetables making the most of the space all year round. Each row is accompanied by herbs or flowers which we use to season and garnish many of our dishes.

Tim practices companion planting for pest control and optimum growth as a welcome consequence extra herbs for the chefs and seeds for the birds.