How I trained the hedges in my cottage garden using this £11 arch from Amazon — that's now a Prime Day deal

A wooden garden gate with a yew hedge and rose bush growing around it
A simple arch has helped create the cottage garden look I wanted (Image credit: Amy Willis)

Landscaping my cottage garden was a full-on task after renovating my house a few years ago. It involved mini diggers, moving countless tonnes of soil and endless dumper truck movements back and forth to bring the land to the same level.

I was left with a soggy mud patch that wrapped around the house and somehow I had to turn this into my home's garden design. The first step to do this was simple – laying grass seed to turn it into lawn. But the next step was to add some privacy, from prying eyes on the road beside the cottage.

Amy Willis
Web Editor

Amy spent over a decade in London editing and writing for The Daily Telegraph, MailOnline, and Metro.co.uk before moving to East Anglia where she began renovating a period property in rural Suffolk. During this time she also did some TV work at ITV Anglia and CBS as well as freelancing for Yahoo, AOL, ESPN and The Mirror. When the pandemic hit she switched to full-time building work on her renovation and spent nearly two years focusing solely on that. She's taken a hands-on DIY approach to the project, knocking down walls, restoring oak beams and laying slabs with the help of family members to save costs. She has largely focused on using natural materials, such as limestone, oak and sisal carpet, to put character back into the property that was largely removed during the eighties. The project has extended into the garden too, with the cottage's exterior completely re-landscaped with a digger and a new driveway added. She has dealt with de-listing a property as well as handling land disputes and conveyancing administration.