For most gardeners, November is a time to retreat indoors, browse through the seed catalogues and dream of the warmer days to come. But not so at Ulting Wick in Essex; here the arrival of the first frosts kicks off a period of frenetic activity as Philippa Burrough begins the mammoth task of planting thousands of tulip bulbs.
Philippa and her husband Bryan moved from London to rural Essex in 1996, having purchased a 17th-century farmhouse complete with a selection of rundown barns and a garden filled with azaleas and rhododendrons. Nestled in the Chelmer Valley, the area is exceptionally dry in summer – “drier than Jerusalem”, as Philippa likes to point out – but also prone to harsh winter frosts.
The Burroughs concentrated first on updating the farmhouse and the listed barns before turning their attention to the grounds, which
