An Organic Process

Natural woman Gael Boglione revels in her rural surroundings and relates the organic growth of Petersham Nurseries

I think my appreciation for nature stems from my childhood. I grew up in Melbourne where I had a great but simple life that was very much about being outdoors, afternoons playing at the beach or in a park or just the back yard – we were always out in the fresh air. There’s a sense of freedom growing up with so much space – you’re connected to the earth and, from an early age, you learn to respect it.

I left Melbourne when I was 17 to pursue modelling in Paris and although I’ve been living in London for the past 25 years, my roots are still very much in Australia. My husband, Francesco, and I enjoy going back there with our family whenever we can. We find it an incredibly relaxing place.

When Francesco and I moved to Richmond 12 years ago we certainly didn’t have any grand plan to own a nursery. We’d been living in central London but I’d begun to feel claustrophobic there with four children and all our dogs. We all wanted to relocate somewhere with more space and were lucky enough to find this wonderful 1640s Queen Anne house with a huge garden, which we bought and spent the next five years restoring – it was a real labour of love. Our intention was to bring the house back to its natural beauty and rawness, and let it stand as it should.

Six years ago, and not without many second thoughts, we purchased the old nursery at the foot of our garden. Traditionally, the land had always been part of the property but was sold off about 30 years ago and the estate split. When the lovely family who operated the nursery wanted to sell up it was natural that we would be approached to buy it. In a way, our purchase was a defensive measure – we were terrified someone would build on the land. Initially, we didn’t quite know what to do with the nursery we simply hoped to make it as beautiful as our home. And so began another labour of love.

Our preference for natural spaces influenced everything we did. We ripped up no end of concrete and replaced it with hoggin (a mixture of clay, sand and gravel), tossed out all the plastic, and, most importantly, banished harmful, toxic pesticides whilst searching for natural alternatives. We also planted a long cutting garden in the nurseries to provide not only inspiration but our own source of cut flowers.

I’ve been passionate about sustainable living and nutritious, delicious food for a really long time, so we felt strongly that the nursery should reflect these values. We’ve been greatly assisted in bringing this philosophy to life by fellow Aussie Wendy Fogarty, who runs the nurseries and was the driving force behind Slow Food UK, we share a vision, a blueprint for the greening of nurseries. We try to use as many British plant growers as possible – not as easy as one would think, as many have gone out of business. We sell biodegradable coir pots instead of plastic ones and we recycle all possible waste including wine corks from the Café, which we give to customers for use as pot crocs. We try to live in the most eco-friendly way we can but realise there’s still much more to be done.

We’re conscious that we can always learn more. Wendy recently developed a travel plan, for which we won an award last year, to encourage customers to visit us on foot, by bicycle, public transport or car sharing whenever possible. Next we want to explore trapping heat in the glasshouse and using it to reduce our energy consumption.

The Café and Tea House emerged a few months after we reopened the nursery. The Café is the antithesis of slick city dining with besuited waiters and shiny surfaces. Based in a greenhouse in winter or in the garden on good summer days, we have dirt floors, tickling ferns and waiters in wellies! I think the intimate setting, with rustic chairs and wooden tables (all recycled antiques), is a wonderful place to eat the fabulous food created by our head chef, Skye Gyngell, another Australian. Eating amongst the plants appears to be a source of inspiration for customers as well as a soothing experience. The kitchen sources its food from over 40 local suppliers as we believe in sustaining small producers. Given that wasted food is one of the top sources of methane emissions, my chooks also serve an important purpose as they eat all the leftover food from our house. Most of the waste from the nurseries and Café is composted.

The Petersham Nurseries that exists today has been an exciting learning experience for Francesco and me, and I’m proud of what we’ve created. It is labour intensive, but we’re a tight-knit team, and because we enjoy what we do we don’t mind working hard. What’s emerged is a splendid mishmash of rambling, sweet-smelling jasmine, antique zinc tubs filled with dahlias and rust-spotted urns overflowing with English roses – our hidden-away plant wonderland.

Groups of artists come and paint, and schoolchildren come to learn about plants and food. There is a community feel here, and many of the people who work with us are locals. We’ve been rewarded by having incredible support from the community, which has been instrumental in convincing the local council to grant us permission to operate the restaurant. My friends Richard E Grant and his wife, Joan, who live nearby and visit frequently, have been extremely proactive in encouraging us.

I love seasonal change and how our space changes with the seasons. I find May, when everything starts budding, a particularly exciting time, Plants shoot up from the dirt and all the colours and smells start to mingle. At Halloween we fill the place with pumpkins and autumnal vegetables. We dress the nursery up to make it more exotic and great fun for children.

It’s particularly beautiful here over Christmas. Night falls and the greenhouses are lit up by candles and fairy lights. They turn into fragrant, plant filled Aladin’s Caves. After the festive season, the winter months are bare but the nursery takes on a stark, raw beauty of its own and the value of evergreen plants becomes impossible to ignore.

I think I speak for everyone when I say we all feel so happy and proud to work in such a gorgeous environment. We’re surrounded by the Thames, towpaths, fields with cows, glorious Richmond Park and birds that sing all day. Let’s face it: we’re very lucky!

- Gael Boglione (with her husband Francesco) owns and runs Petersham Nurseries, 143 Petersham Road, Richmond, TW10 7AG.

• TGIF

Tags: food, London, nature

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