Linda Barker has transformed the grounds of her Yorkshire home with glorious organic gardens and an outdoor room

She and her husband, Chris, have transformed their Georgian house in Holderness, near Hull, both inside and out, since buying the property five years ago. They were hands-on with the work, as Linda doesn’t just DIY for the camera, she relishes a project and enjoys making everything from furniture to soft furnishings.

Their latest triumph is an outdoor room, perfect for relaxing and entertaining in. “I looked at buying furniture for it but couldn’t find what I wanted in the right size so we decided to make it ourselves,” says Linda.

Chris constructed the frame for the sofa, while a local maker supplied the seat cushions and Linda, who collects vintage fabric, made the covers for them out of Indian Kanthas. The table features an old cast iron base that Linda had squirrelled away as part of her “it will come in one day” hoard and Chris made the wood top, along with the pergola. “I am a big antique and salvage hunter. I love going to local sales and to the salvage yards in Hull,” she says.

The piece de resistance is an award-winning Traeger Ironwood 650, a wood pellet fired grill, which works like a convection oven and can be used for grilling, roasting, baking and smoking food.

“I love cooking and eating outside and wanted an outdoor oven. The Traeger is brilliant and so much less messy and more efficient than a barbecue. Everything your kitchen oven can do, a Traeger Ironwood grill can do outdoors, plus you can control it from an App on your phone to maintain consistent temperatures, so you don’t have to stand over it. You can even slow cook in it and put meat in to cook overnight,” says Linda.

The grounds surrounding the new “room” were a challenge as they were quite formal with large areas of lawn. Linda and Chris wanted a more natural look and have completely redesigned the gardens.

“My dad loved gardening and I have inherited that passion but previously I’ve only tinkered with smaller spaces. Now I’m learning lots along the way and there’s a lot to go at here as there are nearly two acres of garden,” she says.

She and Chris have carved it into zones and created eight big vegetable plots because although the soil is quite dry in Holderness, it is a good area for growing. “We also got someone in to help us dig and lay an 18 metre pond. The garden is a bit rough around the edges in places, with artichokes growing in the middle of flowers, but there is structure among the wildness,” says Linda, who is passionate about roses, gardens organically and gets inspiration from podcasts by Sarah Raven and Arthur Parkinson. She also practises yoga in the garden, weather permitting, as she loves the great outdoors and is also a keen wild swimmer.

Selling her London house and making Holderness her full-time home has given her plenty of opportunity to sample coast and country as both are on her doorstep. “I love living on the Holderness peninsula. It’s a secret gem. It’s so beautiful and it’s quite wild and quiet. There are lots of walks and you can go on a beach here and be the only person on it,” says Linda, who also enjoys being close to Hull

“It’s brilliant. I love Humber Street in the Fruit Market, which is full of independent shops and creatives, and the HoH (Hammonds of Hull) food hall and there’s a really good arts scene with galleries and theatres.”

This winter will mean spending more time indoors and continuing finishing work on the house. “It has been a full renovation, from a new roof, windows and doors to replumbing and rewiring but we are almost done,” says Linda, who is also busy with work, which has included regular appearances on Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch and designing ranges for Terrys Fabrics and for Multipanel, which specialises in wet wall systems for bathrooms.

As for staying in the house long-term. That’s a definite “yes”. “I love it here in Holderness and this is a dream house. It’s beautifully appointed on the edge of a village and it’s south-facing,” she says. “It is quite big but doesn’t feel like it. It’s a lovely, gentle place and after moving here in lockdown, we realised we wanted to be here all the time.”

*Pictures by Heidi Marfitt. The Traeger Ironwood 650, £1,499, is available from garden centres nationwide, including Langlands garden centres in York, Sheffield and Leeds. www.langlandsgardencentre.co.uk