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THE BACON CROWDER GARDEN: BEFORE AND AFTER

April 24, 2020/24 Comments/in Featured Gardens, Landscape Design /by mturner

I will be forever grateful to Mary Bacon and John Crowder, who almost 20 years ago engaged this green (and I mean inexperienced, NOT environmentally savvy) landscape designer to work with them on their charming stone cottage, one of four Ernest Flagg designed houses in the neighborhood. Out of our 18 year collaboration came three major phases of garden transformation and an enduring friendship.

When Mary and John moved into the cottage, what would become their front entrance was hidden by overgrown boxwood (some taller than the doorway) and HVAC units. The footprint of the house was U shaped, and the door was in the center.

A mystery man walks by the cottage just before the removal of the boxwood.

Mary and John wasted no time making the bold move of ripping out the boxwood. They also relocated the HVAC units, exposing the charming facade for the first time in years.

We created a courtyard, reusing the slate to create a small entrance terrace with generous steps, and softening it with plants.

Boxwood, gardenia, crapemyrtle, pieris and camellia fill the planting beds. Akebia frames the doorway.

Next, we tackled the south side of the property. Note the boxwood swallowing the lovely side porch landing. We had many animated debates about whether to sacrifice or save the long-time resident, and in the end, decided to keep it and limb it up — marriage saved!

We installed large stone steps from the driveway to the south entrance, now visible through the limbed up boxwood.

Photograph by Helen Horsley

The backyard, choked with weeds, sloped toward the house, creating drainage issues, and limiting the usable space in an already shallow backyard (about 20 feet).

Looking north across the east border of the property, prior to construction

We needed to accomplish a lot in that narrow space — screen for privacy and create a welcome gathering space for gilling, dining and relaxing. To meet our goals, we excavated the slope and built a series of retaining walls, easing the drainage, creating level space, and allowing for an intimate terrace. As we did with the front terrace, we created pockets of garden beds between the house and terrace for plantings to set off the beautiful stone of the house.

We engaged a mason who understood the importance of using materials and techniques complementary to the existing architecture. David Aldridge was an extremely talented mason — Jamaica born, a former accountant (we shared the dream of leaving white collar jobs to work in the great outdoors). David worked closely with John to match the stone walls to the house, handpicking each stone he used. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

Looking south toward a forlorn chain link gate and post, and toward the garage beyond

The terrace, post-construction. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

The woodland path, post-construction. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

The back facade, pre-construction

A recent sunrise photo of the terrace by John

Mary and John, with their newborn daughter Cabell, settled into the cozy stone cottage, but 8 years later they were ready to expand the footprint a bit. Sensitive once again to ensuring a seamless transition in keeping with the Flagg design, Mary and John worked with 3north for the design of the addition. I was tasked with continuing that transition in the garden.

Mary and John have been good stewards of this special Flagg stone cottage. Ernest Flagg wrote:

The most perfectly constructed object in nature, and also the most beautiful object in nature, is the human form as it approaches perfection. This, then, is the criterion of construction as it is of design. The study of its beauties is the veritable key to art… In the human form, as nature tries to make it, every feature is useful and every feature is beautiful. Each member is perfectly adapted to the function it has to perform; nothing is superfluous, yet the whole and every part is supremely decorative.

The Bacon/Crowders have not only embraced the Flagg design philosophy, they engaged, from the start, designers and craftsmen who practice with the same sensibility.

The north facade prior to construction

The north facade upon completion. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

Having created a series of intimate spaces in scale with the cottage, we continued the approach with two more outdoor rooms. Once again, we used stone walls and plantings to define the outdoor areas, and stone walkways and steps to lead from one space to the next. John sought to manipulate the grade to create the feel of a sunken garden.

A practical challenge drove the design for this garden, as is so often the case. The door to the outside was in an ideal spot for circulation in the new interior room, but left limited space for comfortable egress. The solution? A quarter arced landing with repeating step, creating an axis from which we repeated the curve across the garden in the form of a stone retaining wall with inset stone seat.

A tight space to exit

Stonework near completion

The entrance post-construction. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

Looking north from the back terrace, prior to construction

The retaining walls and seat wall go in

The “sunken” garden post-construction. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

Cabell posing for a photo by photographer Rob Cardillo during a photo shoot for a feature in Traditional Home by Marty Ross

As can be seen in the drawing below, the stone seat is the central feature, lying on the central axis of both the back terrace walkway and the north path.

Landscape plan for the north gardens

The entrance to the adjacent space, centered on the broad expanse of windows, was subtly defined by two boxwood. A birdbath is centered on the windows, and a stone path along the axis bisecting the boxwoods leads to the north gate.

North garden during construction

North garden, looking toward the seat wall, upon completion. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

Mary, John and Cabell spent the next 10 years caring for their cottage and gardens. Cabell has become a phenomenal squash player and Mary and John have nurtured and expanded the gardens over the years. Mary, an uber-talented flower arranger, has become quite the perennial guru, growing lush, beautiful borders. John is a meticulous gardener. He has patiently been training pleached beech hedges in the north gardens for the last 10 years, as well as espaliered fruit trees. He used to tell me he wanted planting beds with big shoulders — deeply cut bed lines with mounded soil. I was perplexed about this desire until I saw the “big shouldered” beds in England and had that a-ha moment.

One of John’s broad-shouldered planting beds. Photograph by Helen Horsley.

Recently, Mary and John turned their attention to the detached stone garage, transforming it, again with the help of 3north, into a a stunning guest cottage with accompanying shed and tied together by a walled courtyard. I again collaborated with Mary and John on the garden, creating the retaining walls, steps, and circulation. But the planting was all them.

The garage, after being gutted, its walls preserved

After construction and planting

With the help of Terra Forma Landscaping, John transplanted and nurtured his beloved espaliered trees during construction. Our top priority in creating the garden’s retaining wall was that it be large enough to accommodate one of the espaliered trees.

From there, Mary and John took over, building a dry-laid stone wall along the south property line, and filling the beds with beautiful mature boxwood, hydrangea, clematis, honeysuckle and perennials.

Photograph by Gordon Gregory

Ernest Flagg said, “the best art, and the only art which will ever lead to great results, must have for its basis the interpretation of beauty in nature.” Perhaps the Bacon/Crowders and Ernest Flagg are kindred spirits.

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The Cottage Gardens of the Priory Hotel

October 2, 2017/1 Comment/in Featured Gardens, Landscape Design, Plants & Horticulture /by mturner

When in Dorset, England, make your way to the Priory Hotel in Wareham. The Priory sits quietly along the River Frome in Wareham, and boasts four acres of intoxicating gardens.

I visited in June, at the height of the perennial show. Below, poppies are just beginning to bloom along the River Frome.

Valerian is ubiquitous in the English countryside. Here, it grows out of stone walls that contain pockets of soil.

Peonies, framing the lawn and the river terrace, are about to burst into bloom.

The Priory’s gardens are filled with roses. To support the climbers and other vines. gardeners have constructed beautiful, rustic, sturdy trellises and arbors from local wood.

The arbors and fence below are made from local raw timbers.

Stonework is the backbone of the Priory’s gardens. Below, a cast stone bench complements the stone walls and walkway.

Roses cascade over the stone wall and arch, below.

The Brits’ use of plant supports is practical and effective. Here, simple chicken wire supports sweet peas climbing a wall.

Water features are around every corner. This one is in a secret courtyard. The geometric stone pond and walkway are softened by pockets of perennials.

Even the garage (pardon, car park!) is charming.

I could get used to poking my head out of this window every morning.

Perennial beds are enclosed by high evergreen hedges with arched entryways.

Other garden rooms are separated by stone retaining walls, with entrances defined by broad stone steps. We played a mean game of croquet on this lawn just before leaving (kicking and screaming).

Calla lilies grow along the water’s edge.

This staddle stone sits happily along the river, nestled near the ginormous leaves of gunnera.

Campanula scampers up the stone.

The gardeners stake the peonies with bamboo sticks and twine.

They take their composting seriously at the Priory!

The Priory exemplifies English gardening at its best. A large expanse of property has been crafted into formally laid out rooms, made intimate and alluring through the use of rustic complementary materials and a rich and informal palette of plants.

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BEFORE AND AFTER: THE ENGLISH GARDEN

November 11, 2016/0 Comments/in Featured Gardens, Landscape Design, Plants & Horticulture /by mturner

Before and Afters are an effective tool to help gardeners see the possibilities for transformations in their own garden spaces. This B and A takes me back several years to a memorable collaboration with Ben and Loretta English. Ben and Loretta, who have great insight and taste, brought out the best in all of those who renovated the Englishes’ gardens and they were an absolute delight to work with.

THE FRONT YARD

The front renovation began with a focus on the front door. Loretta, who has a keen eye for design and a great sense of scale and proportion, felt that the front entrance needed a stronger presence to balance the facade, and so framed the door with a deeper coved hood. Taking a cue from this enhancement, we took the opportunity to add a broad, generous landing and a U-shaped drive to further open up the entry.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The landing is paved with select bluestone in a stacked stone herringbone pattern, and bordered by brick. A small boxwood hedge (Buxus ‘Justin Brouwer’) and Small Periwinkle (Vinca minor) frame the landing.

Planting a U drive’s island can be tricky. Rarely is the island on axis with the front door. Here, we planted an S curved laurel hedge (Prunus laurocerasus ‘Otto Luyken’), the apex of one curve in line with the center of the front door, with sweeps of hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Nikko Blue’) nestled in the curves. On the street side, we planted a ground plane of pachysandra (Pachysandra terminals).

We paved the driveway in brown crusher run and edged the driveway in cobblestone, with a cobblestone apron at the street’s entrance.

To make way for the drive, we removed a a magnolia, and added a brick wall to hide the service and parking area.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We softened the edges of the house by planting Crapemyrtles (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Natchez’) on the two corners of the house. We kept the foundation planting simple, with a mass of evergreen Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis), Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides ‘Frostproof’), and Camellia sasanqua. White Dawn climbing rose drapes over the new wall.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

On the east side, we separated the foundation plantings from those along the east side of the driveway with a stepping stone path. We loosened up the plant palette with Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), Prague Viburnum (Viburnum pragense), Variegated Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum variegatum) and ferns. We planted Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) at each entrance to the driveway.

THE BACKYARD

We had a lot of fun in the back. The Englishes had decided to add a pool, and Ben asked whether we could use the excavated dirt to add elevation to the garden. Well. That was music to my ears. I LOVE to use the slightest grade change as an opportunity to add garden elements such as walls and steps. These features transform a garden, giving it structure, definition and depth, and it drove the design for the Englishes’ backyard.

We divided the garden into three north-south sections, and then within those sections created several distinct spaces. The gardens are arranged using strong axial lines, both north-south and east-west, so that each space beckons from another.

The East Section

The pool and pool house were placed in the furtherest east section, and we left it the same grade as the house, as we needed to tie in circulation with little room to maneuver. We used select bluestone in a diamond pattern for the pool terrace, and edged it with brick, to complement the brick house.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

The steps between the pool terrace and the raised garden are wide and expansive, with deep bluestone treads and short stacked-stone risers. Small periwinkle (Vinca minor) softens the hardscape and Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spike’) spills over the stacked stone wall.

A view toward the pool house from the central garden lawn.

Standing on the pool terrace looking north toward the house. We added a stepping stone path, with grass joints, to lead from the pool to the central courtyard.

The Central Section

The central garden is divided into a lower and an upper garden. The lower garden is a formal courtyard, which acts as the central hub, connecting the pool, the garage, the upper garden, and the arbored terrace.

BEFORE:

The beloved Brewster.

DURING:

AFTER:

The new brick garage (which replaced the wood shed) and brick wall provide a sense of enclosure for the backyard. The planting beds are edged in brick in what I call a Gillette border.

Looking east, toward the pool. The central parterre is edged in Boxwood (Buxus ‘Justin Brouwer’), and filled with tulips in spring and Catmint (Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ ) in late spring, summer and fall.

Looking south, toward the upper lawn, above. The stacked stone retaining walls and broad bluestone steps are centered on one sweeping shallow radius. Loretta found the gorgeous urn, perfect in scale and patina, to place on the central axis.

Running with Ben’s idea to use the excavated pool dirt to create elevation, we built stone walls on three sides to create a raised lawn and borders, about three feet above the otherwise very flat grade. Gently arced steps frame the upper garden and lead to the central courtyard. The upper garden’s expansive central lawn is flanked by perennial borders, and punctuated by an allee of Winterking Hawthorn. The Hawthorns’ branches are covered in red berries in fall and winter. Steps lead to the pool to the east, and to the informal garden and garage to the west.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

Looking south along the central axis of the garden, toward the terminus bordered by existing American Hollies (Ilex opaca). We added Limelight Hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’) flanked by Chastetree (Vitex agnus-castus). Loretta found the rustic bench, and we placed it at the south end of the lawn.

Looking south west, from the pool terrace. Along this same axis are steps that bisect with the tuteur and lead to the more informal west garden and the garage.

Looking northeast, the perennial border in full bloom with Siberian Iris (Iris siberica ‘Caesar’s Brother’), Catmint (Nepeta x ‘Walker’s Low’), Peonies (Paeonia latifolia), and False Indigo (Baptisia australis).

The West Section

The west section was divided into three spaces. First, the Englishes replaced a small shed with a 2 story garage. We placed an irregular stepping stone path parallel to the garage, where it terminates at a wood tuteur planted with Confederate Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). To the east of the tuteur are steps that lead to the upper lawn and continue to the pool. To the west is a path to the informal garden, where we filled the planting beds with the plants we dug up during the renovation.

BEFORE:

The Englishes had little screen from their neighbors, above, and from the parking area, below, before the renovation.

DURING:

AFTER:

The stepping stone path leads to the nexus of the entrances to the central upper garden on the left, and the informal garden, on the right, which can be seen in the background.

The iron grillwork that Loretta found at Caravati’s softens the brick facade of the garage. White Dawn climbing rose are supported by the ironwork. The silver foliage of Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina ‘Silver Carpet’) and Bearded Iris (Iris germanica) play off the cool colors of the stone. Ben installed “temporary” fencing to protect the garden from their puppy’s shenanigans.

Spirea (Spiraea japonica ‘Anthony Waterer’) spills over the path from the tuteur to the informal garden.

The Englishes have generously shared their renovated garden with many, hosting their kids’ teammates and friends and opening for garden tours benefitting the community. Their vision and beautiful taste shaped the garden, and our collaboration with the talented and hard-working masons, carpenters, general contractors and, most especially, the late great landscaper William Lowe, ensured that the plans were faithfully and skillfully executed, resulting in a well-loved garden.

Many of the AFTER photographs (the good ones — you can tell the difference!) used in this blog were taken by the uber-talented Helen Horsley.

HISTORIC GARDEN WEEK 2016: RIVERVIEW FARM ALONG THE JAMES RIVER

April 28, 2016/3 Comments/in Featured Gardens /by mturner

A tip of the hat to Susan Robertson, who texted me yesterday afternoon to tell me to jump in my car and drive out to see Riverview Farm, on tour for the Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week. At that moment, I was struggling with writing another Garden Week post, and it just wasn’t working. Happy for a diversion, I texted back, “yes ma’am” and took off. This post is a much too superficial and quick post about a fascinating, inspiring, beautiful and significant working farm along the James River.

The farm’s Greek-revival house was built in 1860 (the original home burned down) by John Pleasant Royall and his wife, Mary Howell Douthat. Above is the west facade, facing the river. Below is the east facade.

Looking east from the house is the largest Boxwood (below) I’ve ever seen.

I couldn’t believe this ginormous plant was born of one shrub, so I entered the Boxwood forest to check it out (below). It appears that it is, in fact, the outgrowth from one plant. Wow, what a time the Nordt kids must have playing beneath this canopy.

A Charles Gillette garden was installed along the riverfront in 1927.

A boxwood parterre and brick walkways are enclosed within a brick serpentine wall.

I ran into the Nordts while walking the grounds, and learned that Bill is crazy for trees. How lucky for Riverview Farm that he is! The property contains many old native specimens, such as the Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea), below.

The Nordts have planted more Yellowwood, as well as other native species, including Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus) and River Birch (Betula nigra), below. He gets most of his trees from Bremo Trees, a fabulous nursery on another historic piece of land, further west along the James near Fork Union.

As Bill continues to populate his farm with native trees, the invasives that plague the Virginia landscape work hard to overtake the natives along the river bank. Below, Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altisssima) and Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) muscle their way onto the scene.

Both of those plants are in the Top 10 of invasive species that the James River Park Invasives Task Force, of which I’m a member, is working to control. For those interested in tackling the invasives in the park, many volunteer opportunities are posted on the brand-new website.

When the kids get tired of playing under the canopy of the Boxwood, they can climb into the canopy of this Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) where the penultimate tree house awaits them.

During last year’s Garden Week, I did a blog post on Westover Plantation, and was struck by the Erda family’s connection to the land, the history, and the natural beauty surrounding them. As today’s kids suffer from a nature deficit, these kids spend their days exploring, discovering, soaking in beauty, and putting in good old fashioned labor.

I was reminded of this when reading the Nordt Family Farm website, in which Dianne Nordt writes, “So now I’m a weaver, living on a farm, raising kids and sheep. Together with my incredible husband, we manage an old house and a 400 acre farm on the banks of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. I feel so fortunate to live my dream, to stay at home with my kids, and to practice the craft that I love to my core.”

About that weaving . . .

In Dianne’s words, “I appreciate a lifestyle that grounds me to home. My natural media, Merino wool and plant dyes, are nourished from the southern ground whose landscape inspires me. And my weaving mimics the pace of life here, slow and contemplative.”

Dianne found her passion for weaving while studying fashion design at VCU.How could the blankets Dianne weaves be anything but elegantly understated, when the sheep whose wool she shears live in a barn (above and below) which reflects that same aesthetic?

The Nordts tend a vegetable garden (below). Dianne uses plants grown on the farm to make the dyes for the wool.

The Nordts also grow soybeans, corn, cotton, wheat and hay. Below, Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) climbs a silo.

A barrel catches rain water from the roof of the stables, below.

I left Riverview Farm grateful for the Nordt family’s devotion to preserving this historic sweep of land along the James. By nurturing the plants that have thrived there for centuries, planting to ensure the habitat continues to thrive in the future, continuing the centuries-old practice of farming the fields, and reinvigorating the time-honored craft of weaving hand-dyed wool, the Nordts are instilling in the next generation a love and respect for this increasingly fragile environment, and hopefully, a desire to pass it on to future generations of Virginians.

For more information about life at Riverview Farm, follow owner Dianne Nordt’s instagram postings, found at #nordtfamilyfarm.

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THE LAST OF THE GREAT ENGLISH KITCHEN GARDENS

January 27, 2016/2 Comments/in Featured Gardens, Plants & Horticulture /by mturner

In a prior post, I wrote about the great William Robinson’s creation of the gardens of Gravetye Manor, a 16th century manor house sitting on over a thousand acres in West Sussex, England. Will Ingwerson, a neighbor and owner of a nursery on adjacent land, summed up Robinson well in an introduction to Robinson’s tome Gravetye Manor or Twenty Years’ Work Round an Old Manor House: “During his long and eventful life, Robinson was at odds with many established horticultural conventions and preached his own Gospel of Gardening. . . . He did not suffer fools gladly, and made enemies — but what revolutionary with ideas ahead of his time does not? . . . Our gardens of today owe a great debt to William Robinson.”

The kitchen garden, one of the last great kitchen gardens in the English countryside, was so spectacular that I felt it needed its own blog post.

When Robinson began building his gardens in 1885, he immediately dismissed the present location of the kitchen garden. “Determined to do away with the old kitchen garden, which was right against the house and had a poor effect,” he wrote in Gravetye Manor, p.1. Robinson had the walls torn down and began an orchard in its place.

In 1898, Robinson turned his attention to a new kitchen garden. Ingersoll wrote, “true to his early days in horticulture he created, above the house, a mighty circular walled garden for fruits and vegetables. It was completed in 1900 and was a major engineering feat, being laid on sloping ground facing south.” Gravetye Manor, p. xiv.

Robinson wrote, “Commenced to build in early Summer a stone wall round new kitchen garden, chosen after much and long thought as to the site. For various reasons chose the open hill above the House (where the spring that supplies House arises) as the best, and indeed only good, site near the House for the kitchen garden.” Gravetye Manor, p.108.

Robinson used sandstone, quarried on his own estate, to build the 12 foot high walls that enclosed one and a half acres for the garden. As Francine Raymond wrote for The Telegraph, the garden was angled to catch the light and the sun’s warmth, and to take advantage of the shelter the walls provided (click on Raymond’s article for an aerial photograph of the garden to fully appreciate its layout).

Robinson’s garden design provides rewards for the garden stroller every step from the house to the kitchen garden. After passing through the formal gardens, up the stone steps, and across the croquet lawn (above), a dramatic iron gate with stone columns beckons up yet another incline (below) — this time through one of his “wild” woodland gardens.

Just outside the kitchen garden gates is a rose-covered shed that, on the day I visited, was just about to burst into blooms (below).

The sun rises early in England in June. Dying to walk the grounds at sunrise, I dragged myself out there at 5 am, too late to catch the crack of dawn, but close enough. When I stepped through the heavy iron gates into the kitchen garden, I was blown away.

Head gardener Tom Coward’s horticultural expertise and willingness to innovate are evident everywhere in the kitchen garden. Ninety-five percent of the fruits and vegetables served at Gravetye are grown there.

Upon stepping through the quatrefoil iron gates, a wide center path runs east-west down the center of the garden, and is intersected in the center by a similarly wide path running north to south. Another path circles the garden, bisecting the rows of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers.

At the north terminus is a lovely stone bench and etching paying homage to Robinson, and signifying the year the workmen began to build the garden’s sandstone walls (above).

Flowers abound in the kitchen garden. They serve the dual purpose of providing cuttings for arrangements throughout the house (below) and a pollination source to ensure continued productivity (above).

According to Raymond, the gardeners moves the bantam hens around the beds, so that they can fertilize and scarify. Of course, they also provide eggs for the kitchen.

Since I visited in June, Gravetye Manor’s restaurant was awarded its first Michelin Star. Chef George Blogg’s close working relationship with Coward is crucial to the success of the manor’s kitchen. According to Raymond, the men “get together with the seed catalogues over a pre-Christmas drink and decide quantities and varieties, and then place their order”, always experimenting with new varieties. Coward keeps a “cropping diary so the kitchen knows what’s available for the menus, and the chef visits the garden every day.”

I filed away (for the veggie garden I will try to bring back to life this year) this effective method of plant spacing.

Raymond noted in her article that Coward uses homemade potting compost made from local horse manure, “green manure from the plot and debris from the henhouse. The mixture is turned three times with a tractor.”

I enlisted the help of my good friend Clare Shapiro— Richmond’s resident foodie expert — to identify some of the plants grown in Gravetye’s kitchen garden. Clare generously took the time from her crazy schedule writing her column, filming her show and working on her upcoming book to help me out. She used it as a time-honored gardener’s excuse to sit down by a cozy fire and lose herself in old gardening books — in this case, her mother’s old English gardening books.

Clare thinks the leafy vegetable above is purple sprouting broccoli. This may be post-harvest of the stalks, as the PSB (as it’s called by the Brits) peak harvest ends in May. I had never heard of PSB before, so Clare steered me toward an article by one of her favorite British food writers, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who wrote about it for the Guardian.