Dick Sellars

Dick Sellars, gardener

The English cottage garden has long held a place of affection in our hearts. It rolls back the centuries, its borders packed with flower species hallowed by time and with scented shrubs such as rosemary and lavender flanking a path leading to a bower draped with old fashioned roses. Honeysuckle and perhaps a close-pruned pear tree hug the cottage walls and clematis clambers among the ancient plum and apple trees. Beyond the vegetable patch stands a hive for bees whose droning is the voice of summer.

This idyllic picture may not coincide exactly with the garden of Mr Dick Sellars but his is no less a small corner of England that can be called heaven because it is his creation and anyone who creates a garden has reserved for himself a small slice of paradise. When he moved to his cottage home at the village of Dyke in 1984, the land around it was derelict and after fifteen years of hard work, he has turned it into a showpiece admired by thousands. It was open to the public last weekend and will be again later in the year for Dick has learned that you do not need to own a stately home to allow the visitors in to admire your industry and ingenuity.

The attractive and well-stocked cottage garden owes its origins to the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in the early 16th century when the villagers' supplies of medicinal herbs grown within the cloisters came to an end. Village gardens then became not only larders for vegetables and fruit but also medicine chests and spice boxes. Herbs were needed to flavour meat to see them through the winter and dried aromatic plants such as lavender were mingled with rushes to cover the floors. Everything in the garden was useful as well as lovely and many of the plants associated with the old way of life remain favourites today. The motto of the cottage dwellers was: "Nothing wasted".

By the mid-20th century, the more traditional aspects of the cottage garden were translated by the new villagers, retired, commuting and week-ending, into masterpieces such as that which can be seen at Read's Cottage, Number 32, Main Street, Dyke. Dick, a retired market gardener, is now 79, but still spends every available minute in his beloved garden which is sheer delight and the care he lavishes on it is apparent. His home was originally a pair of cottages built around 1850 and since he bought them they have been transformed into a comfortable home surrounded by this astonishing garden.

It is no more than 100 ft by 50 ft but it is full of shaded walks, shrubs, trees and flowers, and a surprise around every turn. When he started work on the neglected plot he dug down eighteen inches to turn the land and then used stone to make his features although he left the concrete paths which would have been too much trouble to take out. He therefore decorated these paths with various building materials to make them look attractive and then brought in hundreds of containers of all shapes and sizes which enable him ring the changes by moving individual plants from place to place to suit his mood and their needs. "Container growing is an art", he says. "You have got to understand every plant but the beauty is that you can rearrange the garden whenever you like."

Dick is a founder member of the South Lincolnshire Garden Society and vice-president of the Bourne Garden Club whose entries have become an annual event at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show since 1988. His life is spent in his garden and with the help of his wife Margery he opens it up several times a year when visitors pay £1 each for the privilege of looking round and perhaps picking up a few tips and buying the odd plant while the proceeds go to charity. Anyone who has ever turned a sod or clipped a hedge will know that gardening is hard work, even though it may be a labour of love. But with Dick Sellars, this garden has become his hobby, his obsession, perhaps his master, but his creation is a beautiful one and a testament to the unique character of cottage gardens that lives on in England today. Go and see it if you can. Your visit will be well worthwhile.