FRANCES TOPHILL A NATURAL GARDENER

Tell us a bit about your horticultural journey so far?

At 19 I started an apprenticeship at the Salutation Gardens in Kent, through Hadlow Horticultural College, then from there, at 22, I went on to study for my degree in Horticulture through the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Since then I’ve worked in all kinds of gardens, from botanical to historic gardens, community gardens for all kinds of vulnerable adults and children.

Which UK gardens would you recommend people to visit once they get the chance?

I love so many of the Scottish gardens I cut my teeth on. Then there are the Kent and Sussex (and Surrey) gardens I grew up visiting like Sissinghurst, Penshurst Place and many more. In the south west I love Caerhayes, Heligan, Eden and Hestercombe. And then there are those amazing places like the Centre for Alternative Technology, which are doing amazing work to research ways in which