Sometimes it takes a pathfinder, an iconoclast, someone from outside the conventional sphere to shine a light on a new idea and raise support for it. In the past five years there has been a radical shift toward using brownfield sites as inspiration for a new type of sustainable wildlife gardening. I went to see the garden that inspired this revolution.
Down an easily missed track in rural Essex, within sight of the docks and surrounded by monoculture farmland, sits Hilldrop, a four-acre garden belonging to John Little. As I drive down the narrow road I feel like I’m entering another world: the carnival of joyful plant colour and wildlife activity is in stark contrast to the bland landscape around. Echiums tower above dancing meadows of coreopsis, fennel, chicory and salvias; native wildflowers bloom cheek-by-jowl with half-hardy plants you expect to see in coastal Cornwall
