Sowing Intention: Spring in the Garden at the Story of Emily

​​As the days lengthen and the first stirrings of spring awaken the soil, our head gardener Christina shares a beautiful reflection on the work taking place across the grounds at the Story of Emily. From the quiet transformation of our lower paddock into a wildflower meadow, to the thoughtful tending of heritage vegetables in the Kitchen Garden, Christina’s approach is deeply rooted in care, symbolism and sustainability. In this piece, she takes us behind the scenes into the rhythms of early spring — where seeds sown with intention begin to awaken, and the echoes of Victorian gardening traditions meet regenerative practices of today.

The Meadow 

We sowed the seeds of the meadow at the end of summer, last year, from a huge bale of wildflower pasture hay. The bale had been gifted to us by a neighbour, wishing us well for our first year of being open. Sowing the seeds of intention seemed an appropriate metaphor for the regeneration process. Begin as you wish to continue.

 The meadowing process began, as most things in a garden, in the previous year of 2024. As high summer verged towards autumn the giant hay bale - full of ripe seeds - from our kind neighbours at Lethytep arrived. The huge golden bale was unrolled across the lower paddock to the South  of the Rectory and chunks pulled off it with long tine forks and flung about to spread the seeds, to music and much optimism.  

 This spring of 2025, the first seeds from this have begun to wake up and the transformation to meadow has begun. With each passing year more seeds will fall as the wild flowers and other meadow species find their niche and spread, creating an upward spiral of plant, soil and ecosystem health. I am hoping one day the wild orchids will move back into the field. 

It is for me symbolic in as much as, even though there has been damage done to the field and soil, the moment you stop inflicting damage and put good intent into the soil, it will heal and recover. 

Pasture meadows were commonplace during the Victorian era and played an essential role in the provision of grazing and winter hay for livestock. And so, it seemed a natural choice to turn this depleted grassland to mixed species wild meadow. Aside from the simple beauty of meadows, livestock thrive on and prefer the mixed plant species of meadow hay. It will be a win, win, win, for the animals we care for, the wildlife we share space with and the soils we rely on.

And now, as the Sun powers life back into the earth, the first pioneer species from the hay bale, Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor ) has shown its first leaves. 

These plants pave the way for the other meadow plants, especially flowering species, by curtailing the generally thuggish growth of grasses. Yellow Rattle does this by attaching its root specifically to the roots system of grasses where, as a semi-parasite, it leaches nutrients from them, throttling their growth. This enables the other, less aggressive meadow colonisers, to gain a foot hold without the grasses, taking up all the available nutrients and space in the Sun. 

 The Grounds

In the ornamental and Kitchen Garden, it is my intention that when guests step off the cobbles onto the path to the Rectory, that they step through a time wall into another era in the gardens. To remove all traces that might draw them back to this day and age, from the meadow path to the front door of the Rectory, through the stables and into the Kitchen Garden.  

The Kitchen Garden is an interesting challenge to keep strictly Victorian for several reasons. Firstly, while we do have in the Kitchen Garden, some classic Victorian varieties of vegetables and fruit, many older, original varieties are either no longer to be found, or have been superseded by modern varieties that have better flavour, disease resistance and yields. Secondly, the Victorians were notorious for using some rather nasty garden chemicals to protect said susceptible plants, such that many gardeners didn't live very long as a result.

So, to honour the spirit of Victorian gardening, we practice the most up-to-date methods of best practice of our era, as they would have. Everything is grown organically, pests are kept at bay with biological and natural pest control practices, and we follow a no-dig approach to soil health. Only natural materials are used and we source, harvest and produce as much as we can on site or locally.

As well as the Kitchen Garden staples, we will this year also be growing some of the forgotten vegetables of the Victorian era like Cardoons, a close relative of the Globe artichokes, which instead of eating the flower, the stems are eaten. This year we will be including Scorzonera also known as known as black oyster plant, Jerusalem artichoke from which was made a favourite Victorian Christmas dish, Palestine soup. The selection of soft fruit is expanding to include black currants, and raspberries and a large rhubarb as well as an asparagus patch are planned.To add a touch of South Africa, we’ll be growing Cape Gooseberries (Physalis peruviana), named for their abundance in the Cape Colony during the 19th century. These golden fruits are still celebrated today; Babylonstoren, for example, uses them to make one of their delicious jams.