THE MAKING OF A FLOWER PATCH

It’s the wettest day of the winter when we visit Hartley Farm near Bradford-on-Avon. We’ve come to meet Grace Farrimond, co-owner of Young Blooms, a gem of a florists adopted by the renowned farm shop. Almost there, we pass Grace’s growing patch, the Not So Secret Garden. Right now the beds are empty and dark with the rain, but an air of promise hangs over the plot.

From the veranda in front of Grace’s shop, we peer out at the quarter-acre she took on only three yearswas one of my favourite books as a child,” Grace explains. “It was typical of me that I made up the name on the spot – the garden’s so blatantly out in the open!”