And so we went to Encombe, a grandly simple house of Purbeck stone enfolded by hills and facing the sea, about a mile away.  James Gaggero said in winter storms you can hear the sea roaring.  We were there to see the new garden created by Tom Stuart Smith, doyen of garden designers.  Led by charming gardeners (but how I hate being led, I want to wander with a plan of the place, or just wander, I don’t want to have to stand and hear how many tons of manure were incorporated in this difficult soil, etc etc), we duly admired the wide flowing herbaceous borders near the house and below the...

I was going to Dulwich Art Gallery, and he joked ‘Dulwich?  How dull!  That’s the origin of the name.’    I said crossly, ‘It’s not!’  I looked it up, and the name’s origin is Dill – it was the place where dill grew, where they went out to collect it to infuse gripe water for infant and other ailments. Suddenly I saw a map of England, alive with all the plants which give places their name.  Not just dill at Dulwich.  Alresford, where I live is the ford with alders.  Woods of oak, ash, beech and birch abound at Oakhampton, Ashridge, Beecham, and Birkenhead.  Bexhill is...

We’ve been in 5 Bay Tree Yard nine years, and it gets shadier by the day.  The quince was here already, and the two birches are now tall (the woman over the fence asked if we’d have them topped, because of the nuisance of leaves rotting her decking. We said no – the birches are a lot older than her house and garden).  And, to create a further visual barrier between us and the fence, I planted four standard cotoneasters, one whitebeam, two Gleditsia triacanthos Sunburst either side the steps from the patio to the lawn, one Koelreuteria – Golden Rain Tree – and one...

I’ve been so stupid in past years – tried to grow too many things, and when things germinated I planted them squashed together rather than waste them. (It’s the downside of that wartime message engraved on childhood hearts, Waste Not Want Not).  This year, only two crops, parsley and runner beans.  Ah the beans!  I planted them in pots, and the usual thrill as their spears pushed their head through the earth.  Variety: Flavour Star, except it can’t be because I can’t find it in Mr F’s catalogue which is where they came from. Bill erected a handsome aisle of gold...

In this house we could do without every herb except parsley.  Sage? Rather a stuffy old person smell. Basil, a bit too pungent for me though fine with tomatoes and mozzarella, making them look quite glamorous.  Thyme? OK, but I’ve never been good at overwintering it, and am not wild about the smell.. Bay, yes, very good indeed and living in Bay Tree Yard we have a bay bush either side the cottage, ideal for stocks and the like.  Rosemary? Yes, good with roast lamb. Lemon balm? It’s here – I ought to dry or freeze it for drinks.  Rue? don’t know what one does with rue in...