In Telegraph Gardening’s Personal Growth column, green-fingered household names tell us what their gardens mean to them – inadvertently revealing how the nature they nurture shapes both their public and private lives. This week: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Where do you live?
We live in east Devon on a small holding of about 34 acres, 15 of which are ancient woodland. We keep a miniature herd of North Devon cows, AKA Devon Ruby, in the fields, plus some Toggenburg/Boer cross goats; two Aylesbury/Campbell cross ducks and some buff Sussex chickens.
The garden itself is quite informal, sprawling out into different areas. In front of the house is a lawn, a paved area for dining and spectacular views over the valley and the woodland.
What are the main focal points of the garden?
I’ve got an intense relationship with our two veg gardens: my own garden and the one at River Cottage HQ, where we have the restaurant and run all our courses.
That’s managed by our wonderful gardeners Johnny and Jack, and I spend quite a lot of time with them suggesting new veg to try out. I also talk to the chefs about what they want to grow. My private garden is a bit more rough and ready. My wife, Marie, and I have been here 15 years now and we’re totally hands-on ourselves.
Right from the start, having a veg garden was pivotal to everything else, but we also wanted an orchard and a nuttery, so we planted lots of fruit and nut trees.
What are some of your favourites in the veg garden?
We grow most of the veg we eat, so we’re nearly self-sufficient. Our greenhouse gets packed with all sorts of seedlings, including at least 10 varieties of tomato, from monsters such as super marmande, costoluto fiorentino and oxheart to cherries such as honeycomb and gardener’s delight.