Water Lane Walled Garden opened in July 2021. Previously known as “The Walled Nursery”, the site’s new custodians, Nick Selby and Ian James have taken on the long-term restoration project to sympathetically transform Water Lane into a working kitchen garden. There are 13 Victorian glasshouses, a peach case and vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events plus 650 metres of no-dig beds to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs to provide for the garden restaurant and cut flowers for sale. The restaurant serves a short and ever-changing menu by head chef Jed Wrobel who cooks simple and elegant dishes with a focus on vegetables, either grown on-site or from nearby organic and biodynamic farms.
Ian, tell me about your horticulture journey.
“I always thought that I would go into horticulture but I was never sure in what capacity. I wasn’t looking for the next big thing or the next big opportunity. I knew I wanted to get away from London and was happy to be in a position to take a step back from my business. I had previously thought about the idea of flower farming. I found a day workshop to go and visit and after spending the day on a flower farm I knew I wanted to do it. I loved it. I never really knew that this is where I would end up.”
What was the next step?
“During 2020 and amidst the lockdowns, I spoke to a company called Wolves Lane Flower Company. They are flower growers in London, two young women, and I asked if I could volunteer for them. They couldn’t take volunteers at the time, as you can imagine, but luckily for me, they offered me to come and meet them in June 2020. The short story is that I ended up working 4 days a week for 9 months for the company! I was enjoying it so much, I was learning, and they gave me a lot of responsibility.”
So at this point, you’re beginning to establish your chosen path in the wonderful world of horticulture…and you find Waterlane!
“Correct. Water Lane comes up on Rightmove and I can’t believe my eyes. The whole plot and cottage were for sale across 3.5 acres and we booked to view. It’s worth mentioning before I continue that Nick doesn’t rush into things. He’s far more considered than me. But when we walked into this place for the very first time he turned around and said to me, “I think we’re going to live here”. We tried to put a consortium together to buy the property as there was no way that we could have afforded it ourselves. Our plan fell through, and we didn’t manage to get anything in place. Things don’t go to plan, but then September rolls around and whoever had tried to buy it in our absence had obviously failed because the property came back on the market! We managed to secure funding this time with a dear friend who is now an investor in the business.”
How exciting, but what a rollercoaster! When did you start work?
“We took the keys on December 15th 2020. It’s the middle of winter, freezing cold, the place was nowhere near what it is now. There’s a two-bedroom cottage in the corner of the plot, it needs total refurbishment and the idea of living in it during the winter months was not wholly appealing! We decided to commute every day between January and the end of April 2021. During that time, we got on with all the groundworks and started planting as soon as it was possible.”
It’s a huge job to undertake, have you got any helping hands?
“We now have a head gardener in place who primarily looks after the vegetable growing side of the farm and I am so grateful for that. Before purchasing this place I had never even grown a tomato plant in my life so it was a huge deal for me to get all of these plants going. Having our head gardener here does allow me to continuously learn though. I am still very much in the growing phase, if you will, and I love the learning process.”
You’ve certainly been making some big moves here. How’s it going now?
“As time has gone on the whole project has felt more and more “right” for us. Plans have changed and challenges have come up along the road but when you get into a project, things generally either fall into place or they don’t. Our experience so far is that things have gone as smoothly as you could hope for in this kind of project. We feel very lucky to be able to put our mark on the place. Very privileged. We’re just putting our mark on it for a period of time- so many people before us have put their mark on it and now it is just our time to what we feel is right with it.”
Water Lane Walled Garden is open for Breakfast & Lunch Wednesday – Sunday.
Opening Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 8.30am – 5.30pm | Sunday 9.30am – 4pm | Closed on Mondays & Tuesdays
Photo Credit: Maria Bell Photography