I tend to be in the greenhouse in January, February and March, getting everything ready, sowing my seeds, getting the garden ready, and then suddenly the phone will ring and I’ll need to be away from the garden when everything needs to go in and be planted out. Being an actor and a gardener is not really a happy combination.The time balance is somehow wrong. “I’m filming two dramas this year. I do get homesick. I’m really bad at being away from home, which is weird given that I do it for 90% of my life. But it’s a small price to pay for what has been a very enjoyable career.”
and maybe it’s time for me to start thinking about a garden for someone in their 60s. I want to make my next garden as well, I don’t want to inherit one.At the moment I’m fixated on having bees. So I’m thinking of an orchard with bees in it, and possibly some wildflowers.”
What will you take from your old garden to your new garden?
“Probably water.What’s brought me the most joy is watching swallows over the pond on a summer’s evening. I would definitely grow apples again and I would have maybe three or four raised beds, and a greenhouse or potting shed.”
Do you have help?
Drawn To The Garden by Caroline Quentin is published by Frances Lincoln on February 15, priced £20.
“Sam will water for me, but he’s not a gardener. Anthony (her gardener) has helped me over the years. He comes in for a morning a week.”
How do you maintain your wellbeing in the garden?
“I hug trees, I talk to trees, I spend as much time as I can in woodland.They call it forest bathing. It’s a deeply rooted human thing to want to be in the shade or dappled light of a tree on a summer’s day. “I don’t formally meditate, but I do have a process where I try to breathe well when I’m outside if I’m feeling stressed or trying to learn some lines and they’re not going in, or there’s too much to do. I do a little bit of yoga every day. In the summer, I can do that outside and get my breathing organised to just slow my heart rate down and breathe in some good air.”
What’s next?
“I’m planning to downsize and start a new garden (in Devon). My children (Will and Rose) have left home and we have a big house and big plot of land. I’m getting older
mccarthyholden.co.uk | 19
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