Overview

The Long House is aptly named and quite old. Originally built to house one family, an extension was added a few decades later…there’s a stone plaque on this section that says ‘WH 1788’ so the original building pre-dates that. The Long House garden though is much younger than the house itself: the lower section has been terraced and ‘rooms’ created around existing flint walls over the past twenty or so years. We bought The Long House in 2011, downsizing from Bankton Cottage in Crawley Down with its 3½ acres but still wanting a garden we could enjoy and make our own. We swopped acid soil with a touch of clay for a quick drying chalk garden, but it gave us the chance to grow some things here that we could never consider at Bankton. And vice versa of course. But that’s been the fun of this garden…a new challenge! As you wander round you’ll spot some things that have been here for years, others that are obviously newer.