The site is attached to the back of a 2 bedroom privately owned house in the small market town of Richmond North Yorkshire. The house is situated three-quarters of the way up a steep south-facing hill, 177 meters above sea level. The top of the hill is 226 meters above sea level. The back of the house is west facing with half a mile of fields followed by another half-mile of houses before open countryside heading out towards the Swale Dale National Park.

The garden is open to the prevailing, often strong westerly wind. There are two 1.5 meter dry stone walls separated by a public footpath that acts as a slight windbreak. The micro-climate of the garden is affected by the wind and with the south-facing slope, temperatures can change suddenly. At 177 meters above sea level, there is a higher percentage of snow in winter. Frosts are often not as hard due to the position of the garden on the slope of the hill. In summer the garden is in full sun from 11 am until sunset. In winter the garden is in partial shade due to the neighbour’s fence and the low sun.

The local average temperatures are 20.8 C maximum and 11.7 C minimum for July with 10.9 C maximum and 0.9 C minimum for January. The average monthly amount of precipitation for July has been recorded at 51.3 mm. and 55.5 mm. for January with an annual rainfall of 641.9mm. The frost-free growing season starts from April 1^st until November 1^st totalling 214 days. 

The soil type on the site is heavy clay, its depth ranges from very shallow in places due to large formations of solid rock to around 50 cm. There is also a lot of stone in the soil. At present, the soil is low in organic matter. Three-quarters of the site is in lawn with the rest having gravel directly on top of the soil. There are some shrubs on the site the largest been a dogwood that has taken over the top right of the garden. The other shrubs have been cut back over the years and stand only a meter or so high. Next to the house growing out of the gravel is a witch elm and throughout the garden are small ash tree saplings. The lawn is mostly moss with dandelions and yarrow. There are several clumps of daffodils growing through the gravel.

Due to the slope of the garden rainwater runs off the site. There is also run off rainwater from the above neighbour’s lawn. There are no outside taps on this side of the house so any mains water would need to be brought through the house. Currently, the mains water is not metered. There is a downpipe from the roof gutter that could be tapped into for harvesting rainwater.

Fifteen different kinds of birds (see appendix) have been observed on the site but due to the local population of cats, there are no suitable nesting sites for birds. Several hedgehogs visit the garden on a night and field mice can also be seen. Through both daytime and night-time observations using trail cameras, the cats do not pose too much of a problem.  

The left-hand side of the site has a new 1.5-meter fence,  the right-hand side has a post and wire fence that needs to be replaced. As part of next door's own renovations, they have offered to put a new fence up. At the top of the garden, there is a plastic mesh fence that is hanging loose in places. Access to the site other than through the patio door in the living room is along a private path separated from the public footpath by a dry-stone wall. A vehicle can be parked at the end of this path for loading and unloading purposes. Otherwise, it’s a very short walk from the front of the house around the neighbour’s property and onto the private path. Through the centre of the garden running top to bottom is a 1-meter wide concrete path that is level with the soil on either side. At the top and bottom of the path are metal washing line poles concreted into the ground

One of the main features of the site is the view. The house has patio doors and one window, these look out over the garden and into the fields. From the top of the garden, the site looks down onto the town centre and castle.     

Below are three images showing the path of the sun over the garden during the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinox.