For the gardener, when the weather is too wet to work in the great outdoors, the inevitable act of internal confinement, seated at a desk has to take place.

But, with a major restoration on your hands, in terms of the plants at least, the business of plant sourcing and selection is a major task that has or should be done well in advance.

It is a little late for sourcing the more rare plants in time for the spring planting, but the majority I hope to source from some fantastic local nurseries, some of whom are more specialist than others.

I'm keen that plants brought into the gardens will have had a local upbringing and will be well associated with Cumbrias unique climate.

Cumbria, and the north of England has a range of nurseries that offer a broad range of plants that grow particularly well in the northern climate, in particular, the Himalayan and Asian range. Many of the finest Himalayan plants can be found for sale within a 50-mile range of Rydal.

One modern day tool that makes plant sourcing far easier, is firstly the Internet and secondly the online RHS Plant Finder. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a plant they are struggling to source. By entering the name, species or cultivar in the search engine, a comprehensive list of suppliers will be produced. The locations of the suppliers are broken down into sectors of the UK making the task of sourcing locally pretty straightforward. The RHS Plantfinder can be found on the main RHS homepage at www.rhs.org.uk As winter quickly approaches and the ever-decreasing light levels eat into the working day, the garden becomes a list of priorities to get done with a reduced time scale. It focuses the day into a concentrated timetable that is made far easier with good weather. But all plans have to be flexible, especially when working with a temperamental cloud layer that has taken what I hope is temporary residence over Rydal.

A psychological milestone was achieved on Friday when the final area of border 1 on the main terrace was finally dug over, weeded and, I hope, aerated. The significant amounts of clay brought up when the drainage system was installed had combined with the already poor topsoil to form an effective cap' over the ground beneath. After working over the remainder of what I can only describe as a giant, heavy, high fat chocolate mousse, the makings of a feasible and potential soil supporting summer colour and vigour is beginning to emerge, you just need some quietly confident imagination.