Planting stories

When the author Justine Picardie took on a new garden, she turned to her friend Jo Thompson, a Gold medal-winning designer. Together, they have made a quiet haven filled with roses and memories, reveals Caroline Donald

- Caroline Donald

The garden at The Old Rectory, Norfolk The home of Justine Picardie and Philip Astor

AS one might expect when the Chelsea gold medal-winning designer Jo Thompson is involved, there are plentiful roses in the garden at The Old Rectory in Norfolk's Waveney valley. Miss Thompson is well known for her love of the flower and, indeed, it would be a sin not to have them growing up and around the white-walled house, the oldest part of which dates back to 1637-but they have a special resonance, too, for the owner, Miss Thompson's friend and client Justine Picardie.

The former editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar UK, Miss Picardie also has seven books under her belt, the latest being Miss Dior (review, September 8, 2021). Originally intending to write about the great French designer Christian Dior, it was instead his elusive sister, Catherine, to whom she was drawn: a courageous woman who joined the French Resistance during the Second World War, was tortured by the Germans and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. After the war ended, she became a flower seller in Paris and then a renowned grower near Grasse in Provence, where she supplied roses and jasmine for her brother's perfumes, most notably Miss Dior, which was named after her. She died aged 90 in 2008, having remained largely silent about her horrific experiences.