Recycling and repurposing are tropes of our modern age; they feel very twenty-first century. But for John and Carole Richins they are nothing new. This octogenarian couple have been quietly embracing a make-do-and-mend attitude all their lives. And their garden, an extraordinary fantasia of creative horticulture, found objects and upcycled art, is a glorious testament to that.
There is something rather theatrical about the approach to their home, Chauffeur’s Flat, in the sleepy village of Tandridge in Surrey. Driving beneath the arch of a domed clocktower into their circular courtyard is like alighting at a railway terminus from some E Nesbit novel. The area is divided into large, curvilinear flats, complete with arched windows, wrought-iron canopies and slate roofs. This striking piece of architecture, John tells me, was
