Lucy Hart
Our Head Gardener Lucy Hart was interviewed by ‘The Gentle Author’, the curious writer behind the popular blog Spitalfields Life. The blogger vows to write something new about life in Spitalfields, at the heart of London, every single day, until they have reached 10,000 pieces! That will take The Gentle Author twenty-seven years and four months to accomplish, but the challenge is their personal aim to explore the endless experiences, cultures and spaces that London has to offer. We are delighted to have been featured as a place of exploration and even more so that our wonderful Head Gardener has been celebrated in this blog.
Below is a brief extract. Click the link at the end to head over to the Spitalfields Life website for the full interview.
Lucy Hart, Head Gardener At Fulham Palace
One of my favourite gardens in London is that at Fulham Palace. So it was a great delight last week to cycle over from Spitalfields to meet the horticultural genius behind this wondrous creation, Lucy Hart, Head Gardener. Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie joined us, driving from Bethnal Green to create the accompanying photoessay.
In recent years, Lucy has created an enchanted vegetable garden interwoven by flowers within the confines of this ancient walled enclave overlooked by the tower of All Saints, Fulham. I defy anyone not to be seduced by Lucy’s inspired planting combinations – purple gladioli and cabbages or carrots and marigolds – enfolded among old fruit trees and punctuated by long lines of runner beans.
This is the ultimate walled garden of romance, recalling The Secret Garden or Tom’s Midnight Garden, with a fine knot garden and magnificent architectural glasshouses filled by the pungent fragrance of tomato leaves, all within the embrace of crumbling Tudor walls lined with deep herbaceous borders.
Escaping the blinding sunlight at noon, Lucy, Sarah & I sought refuge within the shadow of a venerable apple tree. Lucy told us her story, revealing her horticultural passions, while the sprinklers tick-ticked around us casting rainbows as their showers of waterdrops fell upon the verdant foliage.
‘”For three and a half months, during lockdown, we had to close the gardens but we gardeners came in as usual. It was a strange, exciting time when we had this amazing garden to ourselves …..
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