In 1972 I fell in love with an ancient Elizabethan thatched cottage in the Hampshire countryside, which was surrounded by an area of grass, three ancient trees but no garden. "An Incompetent Gardener's Tale" is not so much about gardening as about creating what is now, some forty years later, a mature garden. The Tale is also about the animals, birds and insects I have welcomed into my haven for wild life. Over the years my ever-ready camera has recorded many of these visitors (some more welcome than others) and these photographs are part of my story. But these animals are strictly excluded...