The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.
- Alfred Austin -
My story
From hobby and health solution to thriving career
Growing Up
I grew up in a leafy suburb of Nottingham in a ¾ acre garden. We had apple trees, currant bushes, pine trees and an ancient pear tree, which I loved to climb. When I was seven we had goats and I spent every day from dusk until dawn playing in the long grass and exploring secret boundary hedges. My Mum was an avid gardener and grew grapes in the old greenhouse. The garden was my whole life. But as you grow up, you forget the passions which you hold so dear.
Tackling The Back Garden
I wanted to study Art, but ended up studying Languages at University and then I became a languages teacher. I then got married and three children came along. It was manageable, but when we separated in 2017 it was a real struggle to work in the evenings. By then I had gone through divorce, our house sale and was watching my career crumble before my eyes. My youngest was still only six years old. I took some time out. One day I decided to tackle my awful, rented back garden. It was a dangerous heap of rocks and tree stumps. Just a crazy paved stone path in centre told me it was once a cottage garden.
I dug and moved rocks, did tip runs and weeded the overgrown paths, until I reached a stage where I could see what I wanted to do with the space. It was the most therapeutic medicine I could ever have taken for my anxiety, the doctor applauded me. I gardened every day for months and the space started to really take shape. I planted a fruit area with rhubarb, strawberries with red poppies and tulips in true cottage garden style. Then a perennial patch with geraniums transplanted from my Mum’s garden, a herb garden with rosemary, lavender, sage, lemon balm and mint. I later dug and installed a pond where there were once rushes. I soon realized that I had the physical strength and the creative vision to create a garden from nothing.
I Wanted To Be A Gardener
I would often escape from the kids out the back door for even just for ten minutes, sometimes just to rub my fingers across the rosemary and inhale the refreshing scent of mint. My garden became my sanctuary, my safe place. It was a place which I had literally dug out of the mud in the darkest time of my life and now it was blossoming all around me. I knew that I couldn’t go back into the classroom. But at the same time I was petrified of the future. I had no other qualifications or experience. But I had a small seed of an idea, a dream- I wanted to be a Gardener.
RHS Horticulture
When I left my job, I signed up for the RHS Horticulture practical course at the Derbyshire Eco Centre in Wirksworth and later studied for the full diploma. Events snowballed and brought me to where I am now. I volunteered at Lyme park in the gardens which was an amazing experience. I also worked for a local gardener. Within 6 months I was setting up my own business with help from the Job Centre. I wanted a name which told my story and what I want to do for others. I wanted it to be floral and feminine too. Thyme and Space.
Creating Thyme & Space
In gardening I had found my time away from my problems and created my own headspace. I also aim to give my clients back their time and their garden space by gardening and designing for them. The peace of working in nature is still music to my ears each morning as I start my day. I feel the most privileged person alive and I am so grateful to the friends who supported and believed in my dream.
I still have a way to go, I am currently studying for a Diploma in Garden Design and my plan is to move slowly into design at the same time as expanding and running the garden maintenance side. But I now have a vision and the means to achieve it.