A Garden Of Healing

Creating this peaceful Sussex patch was a solace and distraction for a former air hostess whose husband died shortly after they moved in

- Naomi Slade

When Alice Kenyon and her husband Graham arrived at their garden on the Sussex coast 15 years ago, the planting was tired and overgrown. Yet, although it was smaller than their previous plot, it was packed with potential and the duo immediately started making plans for the future.

“We were bitten by the gardening bug very early on,” says Alice, a former air hostess. “My grandfather was a very good gardener so I grew up around lovely gardens, and for Graham and me it was a kindred spirit thing.”

They designed the garden together, scribbling notes on scraps of paper and constructing a wish-list of plants but, sadly, Graham was not to see the results. Soon after they moved he died and Alice was left to carry the torch alone.