Your gardener in Newent and the Leadon Vale

Newent sits in the Leadon Vale's orchard country — the town that once grew onions for half the county, with the stilted Market House at its middle and Newent Lake just off the centre. Gardens run from tight plots behind the black-and-white and Georgian frontages to family lawns on the newer estates at the town's edge, with smallholding-sized gardens and old fruit trees starting almost as soon as the houses stop.

The villages are part of the same round.

Clifford's Mesne, Gorsley and Kilcot

The south-west corner: Clifford's Mesne under May Hill, Gorsley strung along the ridge road towards Ross, and Kilcot between them — big hedges, orchard remnants, gardens that back onto grazing.

Oxenhall and the daffodil ground

Oxenhall sits in the wild-daffodil triangle north-west of town — ditch-and-bank gardens around old farmsteads, where the daffodils arrive before the mowing does.

Across the vale — Botloe's Green, Malswick, Upleadon and Highleadon

The Leadon side: Botloe's Green and Malswick close to town, Upleadon and Highleadon out among the meadows the river still floods — lawns here grow soft-ground tough.

Pauntley, Redmarley D'Abitot and Taynton

The far corners: Pauntley of Dick Whittington fame, Redmarley D'Abitot big enough for its own school run, and Taynton down the Gloucester road.

A lot of the older gardens come with a cider-apple or perry pear that has outlived whoever planted it — winter is the time to prune those, and I'd sooner keep one going than take it out. The rest is regular garden care: mowing, edges, borders, hedges cut and cleared, with Three Choirs Vineyard just north of town proving what the ground here can do.

If you're looking for a gardener in Newent or anywhere in the vale around it, call 07443 797 834.

Looking for a gardener in Gorsley, or out towards Redmarley?

Both ends are covered, in practice — Gorsley sits between Newent and Ross and I work it either way, with Redmarley and the northern villages on the same round. Same service, same prices, whichever page you found me on.

Can you prune an old cider-apple or perry tree, and when's the right time?

Yes — winter into early spring, while the tree is dormant. Old orchard trees around Newent do best with a light prune each year rather than one heavy cut. I'll clear or stack the brash too.

It's a bare new-build garden on one of the newer estates — do you take on small regular visits?

Gladly. New-build gardens around Newent are usually quick visits to start with — lawn, edges, keeping the beds clean while things establish. Regular care is how they stop being bare.