Our home

Apart from historic photographs, unless otherwise stated, all photos on this site were taken by  members of my family. 

Please don't republish them without my permission.  Thanks.

© 2008 Mark Collins

10-06-2010

Our home in beautiful rural Sussex

I live with my partner, Alan, in a small village called Newick near Uckfield in the South East of England.  We moved here in 1999 to be closer to my job which had recently relocated to Crawley, near Gatwick airport.

The house was rather old-fashioned and needing much work, however it was the garden that caused us to fall in love with the place. Although somewhat overgrown, it was full of established shrubs and trees and covered nearly half an acre.  Here is a view of the garden in July 2003 after we had landscaped and planted the garden.

The house had one other attraction for me - it is quite close to where the Old Newick & Chailey railway station used to be, on the line from East Grinstead to Lewes. Sadly the line at this point has completely vanished under a housing development. However my interest in railways is such that I made Alan and the children explore the old route, and nearby Cinder Tunnel, soon after our arrival, fighting our way through brambles, saplings and in some places small trees!  A large portion of this line is of course preserved by the Bluebell Railway.

Alan had produced several designs for the garden before we even moved in, and even after all the debate since, we have actually put into practice one of his earliest.  This incorporated most of the established plants and was based on a large circular lawn as the central feature.  We have an album of photos taken of our garden here.