On my recent writing retreat to Norfolk, I dropped in at a garden that is in the midst of a five year restoration. It is at a place called Holkham Hall where they have 6.5 acres of walled garden, originally created in the late 1700s.

I visited on a warm late September day and the thing that it really reminded me was how much time and effort is required to restore a garden that had for a long time been a bed of brambles…

Well, phew!, hello everyone. After two years of weekly blogging, I've just been AWOL for three weeks as I encountered something I never have before - life filled beyond the brim.

In my day job with RSPB, the project I've been managing - helping the Environment Agency undertake the largest realignment of the open coast ever undertaken in Britain - has been reaching conclusion. It's nothing to do with gardening, but…