{"id":19013,"date":"2023-02-15T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/?p=100511"},"modified":"2023-02-15T08:35:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T07:35:27","slug":"a-life-outdoors-deryck-body-and-his-farmhouse-garden","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/a-life-outdoors-deryck-body-and-his-farmhouse-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"A life outdoors: Deryck Body and his farmhouse garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

We featured the garden of retired farmer Deryck Body in Gardens Illustrated in 2015. After the news that he has passed away, we look back on a man who spent every day in his garden, and was resourceful and enthusiastic, whether making fences to keep the sheep off his flowerbeds or growing fruit for jam. Words Francine Raymond, photographs Rachel Warne <\/p>

By Daisy Bowie-Sell\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 15 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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In 2015 when Derek was 87, we featured him and his garden in Gardens Illustrated. After the news of his death last week, we are sharing the feature again, to celebrate a remarkable, resourceful man who had a beautiful farmhouse garden. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter said: \u2018Deryck was greatly loved and a source of inspiration for the team at Great Dixter.\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I followed my instructions to reach Deryck Body\u2019s garden on the edge of Romney Marsh: drive slowly down the lane and look out for multi-coloured dahlias<\/a> singing loudly over a well-trimmed hedge<\/a>. And there was Deryck, a retired farmer, standing tall despite his advanced years, surrounded by shoulder-high flowers: \u201cthe best ever this year, from the tulips<\/a> onwards\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Dahlias, including the giant pink \u2018Emory Paul\u2019, dominate the colourful cottage garden of retired farmer and craftsman Deryck Body, who made the cotttage\u2019s chestnut gate.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s this enthusiasm that keeps most gardeners carrying on gardening but few to such great effect as Deryck. And it isn\u2019t just flowers that keep him busy, he grows his own vegetables<\/a> and herbs, looks after a large orchard and nuttery with a soft fruit cage, runs a few sheep \u2013 four calm ewes \u2013 to keep the grass down, a few hens for eggs, and on the other side of the orchard, there\u2019s a large asparagus bed.<\/p>\n

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Deryck fills his borders with a lively mix of plants, including the bronze-leaved pink dahlia<\/em> \u2018Fascination\u2019, the white, daisy-flowered Leucanthemella serotina<\/em> and Sedum spectabile<\/em> with its large, flat, pink umbels.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

In the farming world, the garden was traditionally woman\u2019s work. His mother was a plantswoman, and Deryck\u2019s wife Betty was in sole charge of the flowers and veg beds. Sadly, and suddenly, Betty died in 2001, and so Deryck took over her garden, finding solace among her plants. He has taught himself the names of the flowers, and although he has always loved making things grow, he prefers the more practical things of life. But the flowerbeds are seen from the road, so he felt obliged to keep them looking lively.<\/p>\n

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Deryck\u2019s borders are filled with a sunny mix of cottage garden favourites, with the vibrant pink of tall Dahlia \u2018Emory Paul\u2019, the deep-red of Dahlia<\/em> \u2018Summer Nights\u2019 and yellow of Dahlia<\/em> \u2018Knockout\u2019 muted by blue delphiniums.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Deryck was brought up in this farmhouse. He left to build his own house down the road and moved in with his new wife, but came back 25 years later when his older son got married, so he has known this spot all his life. Set back from the road, the front garden is pretty much the same width as the house, with beds to either side of the front path, and a tradesmen\u2019s entrance round to the back door, screened by a low clipped hedge<\/a>. The rest is a kitchen garden<\/a> fenced with chestnut paling to keep out the woolly mowers<\/a>; a large collection of fruit and nut trees; and tucked behind, an exquisite little thatched cottage built by Deryck for his grandchildren, using only tools that would have been in use in the 18th century, with it\u2019s own tiny cottage garden.<\/p>\n

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At 87, Deryck Body still spends most of his days outside tending his colourful garden and making everyday objects of great beauty in his workshop.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The soil<\/a> is ancient and alluvial. Romney Marsh has been cultivated since the 13th century for the Archbishops of Canterbury, and this area was drained in 1804 to create the Royal Military Canal. The acre plot would have sustained a farmer\u2019s family. After Deryck passed his farm on to his sons, he started thatching local barns and cottages, using his own strain of long straw wheat. He made his own ladders \u2013 some 40 rungs tall \u2013 cut cleft chestnut fences, hurdles and gates, and became famous in the neighbourhood for his workmanship. In his late seventies, he visited Great Dixter<\/a> (once farmed by one of his relations) to cap the woodshed\u2019s roof, and met Christopher Lloyd<\/a>. They famously disagreed about cutting back the fig tree that was in the way, and Lloyd stamped off grumbling: \u201cI\u2019m not going to be told what to do by that young whippersnapper.\u201d A happy compromise was reached.<\/p>\n

In brief<\/strong><\/p>\n

What<\/strong> Productive farmhouse garden. Where<\/strong> Kent. Size<\/strong> One acre. Soil<\/strong> Fine grained, alluvial and fertile. Climate<\/strong> Mild with risk of flooding. Hardiness rating<\/strong> USDA 8.<\/p>\n

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He has continued his relationship with Great Dixter<\/a>. Head gardener Fergus Garrett<\/a> says that everything about Deryck comes from a bygone age: a lovely world we\u2019d all like to live in. \u201cHe massively influenced our decision to turn the Great Barn into a classroom for country skills,\u201d says Fergus. \u201cAnd he helped us set up samples and examples of how woods and greenwoods can be turned into necessary everyday objects of great beauty. I have immense respect for everything Deryck makes: from the way his gates work to his rook pie; and for his understanding of the land he works, of his animals, of wood, everything he turns his hand to. It\u2019s a privilege to visit the farmhouse, and be briefly part of his world, to be informed by his knowledge and touched by his friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sometimes even Deryck\u2019s gates fail to stop one of his Romney sheep, which help keep his lawns in order, from trying to sample the tempting border flowers.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The list of what Deryck is both willing and able to turn his hand to goes on and on and even stretches to milling his own flour from the farm\u2019s strain of long straw wheat, which we were lucky enough to sample on our visit. Our tea of home-baked rolls with greengage jam \u2013 homemade, of course \u2013 a boiled fruitcake, made with sultanas soaked in cider from the farm, and walnut slices was delicious. Waiting for Deryck on the sideboard was a pie for supper made with home-raised pork and orchard apples cooked in homemade cider.<\/p>\n

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Over the years the names of the dahlias Deryck grows have been forgotten, but this white-flowered dahlia is probably \u2018Twyning\u2019s After Eight\u2019 and the raspberry ripple dahlia may be \u2018Mystery Day\u2019.<\/span><\/figcaption> \u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Anything he needs, Deryck makes himself using bits he has. He believes that progress generally has landed us in a pretty poor predicament but happily lives to work \u2013 unlike so many of us who work to live. He gets up with the birds \u2013 \u201cHow can you not?\u201d he asks \u2013 and spends his days outside or, when the weather is bad, in his workshop. One of the last of a generation, Deryck Body leads a life that hasn\u2019t changed, in an industry he barely recognises, but he has the satisfaction of having passed his time more profoundly productively than most, in one of the loveliest of gardens.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Deryck\u2019s mostly productive vegetable plot, where he grows sprouts, kale, beans and onions for the kitchen table, also has room for colour provided by yet more dahlias<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Deryck still spends much of his day in his workshop, making what he needs with green woodworking techniques that have been used for centuries.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

This tiny, half-timbered, thatched cottage, built by Deryck for his grandchildren, has an air of fairy-tale magic thanks in no small part to its scaled-down colourful cottage garden.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

One of Deryck\u2019s chestnut gates creates a dividing line between his vegetable plot and a flower garden filled with various dahlias, including the burnt-orange \u2018David Howard\u2019 and pale-yellow \u2018Inca Spectrum\u2019.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Rachel Warne<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Both the traditional ladder and the chestnut fencing it leans against were made by Deryck. The fence surrounds of a highly productive cider apple orchard.<\/p>\n

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Deryck\u2019s lore<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Deryck keep beds weed free with a sharp swan-necked hoe, so he doesn\u2019t have to weed on hands and knees.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He deadheads<\/a> daily to encourage flowering.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He keeps his hedges (and topiary<\/a>) in shape with a sickle or brush hook that\u2019s \u201cas sharp as anything\u201d, trimming little and often so new growth never gets woody.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He spins his sheep\u2019s wool on a homemade wheel. I was shown bags of the softest wool, some dyed with young forsythia leaves for a yellow hue.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Clothes are line-dried in the garden and hung with pegs handmade of split grey willow cut below a node. The wood is as smooth as silk and won\u2019t snag clothes.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Deryck makes everything himself. When he and Betty moved into the farmhouse, they couldn\u2019t find their nutcracker. Deryck made one from a gutter bracket, which he still uses.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Dahlias<\/a> are left in the soil with their stalks as markers and mulched deep to protect their tubers from frost \u2013 in colder areas they should be lifted and stored.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sheep keep grass down in this garden. Geese, says Deryck, are also good for this, but they are messier, noisier, and often more aggressive.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Deryck makes full use of local fruits and nuts; the farm still makes cider from the orchard apples and Deryck used to make cherry wine from tiny bird cherries in local orchards.<\/p>\n

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