Lucy and Richard Bartlett moved to Polstead Mill in the heart of Suffolk in 2002. Their previous gardening experience, during careers spent travelling the world, had been confined to containers on the balcony of their flat in central London. “We planted seriously and in profusion, but space was always limited,” Lucy recalls.
At Polstead they acquired a garden and 11 acres of land, with a swimming pool and hard landscaping put in by the previous owners, along with a few shrubs – and shoulder-high nettles. “The grand plan was to get rid of the nettles then wait for a year to see what was there,” Lucy explains. In the meantime they cut down the line of outsized leylandii along the river, which was encroaching onto the lawn. Lucy recycled them, using their trunks to make a bridge over the River
