THE NURTURING GARDEN

Botanical artist Gael Sellwood – and the local wildlife – have reaped the benefits of her ‘hands-off’ approach in this conservation garden

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You’d expect a botanical artist to feel the need to be surrounded by nature, and that’s exactly what drew Gael Sellwood and her husband, Michael, to this house and garden in rural Hertfordshire. ‘We weren’t even looking to move,’ says Gael, who first came here on a dull, dark, late-November day in 2007. ‘We were in a very lovely thatched cottage nearby but as soon as we saw this place, with the house at the centre of its plot and surrounded by fields and woodlands, we just fell in love with it.’ An imposing holly tree ‘absolutely laden’ with berries seemed like a good omen, as did several other interesting, mature trees around the property – an ancient pear, a lovely mulberry, some ball-clipped topiary and a small orchard to the rear of the house. ‘The garden had been laid out in the 1930s and 1940s by a retired army major and it had a sense of being contained, whole and safe. And, as much of it was grass, it wasn’t particularly daunting or challenging,’ says Gael.

It was also extremely beautiful, as Gael and Michael could only fully appreciate the following spring, when they moved in to find tens of thousands of daffodils lining the drive and under the trees in the orchard. The best was yet to come, however, when just a few weeks later the blossom broke. ‘I remember feeling absolute wonder,’ says Gael. ‘I still do. At around 400 years old, the pear tree is probably one of the oldest in the county – possibly the country – and when covered in blossom it looks as though it has snowed.’