Winter haven

John Little’s experimental garden is a sanctuary for wildlife in winter, when the structure behind its summer abundance is revealed

- WORDS JODIE JONES

IN BRIEF

What Private experimental garden.

Where Essex.

Size Four acres.

Soil Heavy clay, manipulated with the addition of considerable quantities of a variety of aggregates.

Climate Temperate.

Hardiness zone USDA 9.

John Little has considered the structural diversity of every part of Hilldrop, the garden he has created in Essex, from the open deck of the house where he lives with his wife Fiona, to the combination of trees, shrubs, perennials and self-seeders, meadow grass and hoggin paths.

There is a van in John Little's garden. That information may not seem so surprising perhaps, until you learn that the van in question isn't simply parked. It is semi-submerged, with greenery growing over, under and through it. This rusty blue ex-vehicle is a perfect, provocative indicator that things are done differently here.

Hilldrop, in south Essex, has been John's home for more than 30 years. During that time he has established a pioneering green roof construction business (the Grass Roof Company) while transforming his four-acre site into a living laboratory in which to develop ideas about what a good garden should look like. He is a sharp-dressing, smooth-talking advocate for a whole new ecological approach and, since his daughter first persuaded him to start posting video clips about his ethos on social media just five years ago, that message has spread far and been enthusiastically adopted by many who now see his garden as a mecca for aesthetic environmentalism.

While few people have the opportunity or the inclination to bury an old Citroën in their garden, there are many who would love to recreate a slice of Hilldrop, with its sculptural solitary-bee posts, gabion walls, standing deadwood and perfectly circular piles of aggregate.