My Gran used to say that the best thing about gardening was the anticipation. For much of her life her only outside area was a backyard in Newcastle, but it was always bursting with colour, a handkerchief-sized space that was...
Read MoreThe novelist Patrick Gale knows how to write an opening line. Consider these examples from a selection of his books and try and resist the urge to rush out and buy them. ‘Rachel was woken by a painting or, rather, by...
Read MoreIt’s odd how your priorities change as you get older. In my younger days I lived in London with access to a communal garden. I was content to wander round, cats in tow, safe in the knowledge that someone else would mow the grass...
Read MoreThere’s a card on my wall which sums me up perfectly. A present from my sister, it reads: ‘She just couldn’t behave herself with cheese.’ It’s true. Among the greatest delights of my culinary life,...
Read MoreIs there anything more quintessentially English than a cottage garden border? I can see it in my mind’s eye: the dancing delphiniums, fancy foxgloves and graceful grasses, all wafting round a perfectly manicured lawn while the...
Read More
