Nurtured with Love: Planting and Growing The Grain Store Garden

22 Sept

Step into our wild country garden in East Sussex with The Grain Store Creator Anni Townend.

One of the joys this summer has been seeing the garden at The Grain Store evolve and flourish. The tall grasses and flowers are now settling into their natural rhythm and habitat.

Most of our guests comment on the amazing views from The Grain Store, which offers a vista across the South Downs National Park. This summer we have received particularly nice feedback on the lovely garden, designed to complement the natural surroundings.

As the seasons change from late summer into autumn, we thought it would be nice to share an update on our wild country garden and introduce some of the people who have helped to nurture it along the way.

Hand-picked especially for The Grain Store

We chose the plants carefully in August 2020, opting for those that would flow in sync with the Downs. The plants were tended at Marchants Hardy Plants by Hannah who later planted them at The Grain Store, somewhat later than expected due to the weather. With the help of Sam Porter-Hardy, who has become resident gardener at The Grain Store, the pair planted a variety of grasses and flowers.

Despite the late planting, the garden thankfully already looks quite established and provides the foreground to the beautiful rolling fields of the Downs National Park beyond.

Some of the flowers on display were also picked by Julia and Heidi from FLINT to be pressed. FLINT has a wonderful range of body lotion, body wash and hand soap made from the plants grown in their garden not far from The Grain Store.

Planting of the orchard

Sam has recently been joined by Oisín and together they tend the flower beds, have planted a number of trees, and in the next couple of months will be planting fruit trees in what will become The Grain Store orchard.

We already have a beautiful Dr Hogg apple tree, from Fi’s Yard, which is an ancient variety grown in Sussex. Dr Hogg had pride of place in another area of the garden but was carefully relocated to the orchard area earlier this year. The orchard will replace the five big Ash trees that we sadly had to fell Last autumn, having been planted in the 1960s with the original building.

The relocation of Dr Hogg has meant that we have been able to place a washing line where the tree had been. One of our pleasures is being able to wash and hang out the towels to dry, ready for the next guests. You can’t beat that fresh linen scent.

The Willow fence

We previously wrote about our willow fence, created by master weaver Dominic Parrette from Sussex Willow. You can see from the more recent pictures how the fence is now luscious and green, surrounded by flowers. It is flourishing beautifully since it was erected in the snow back in January.

Read the interview with Dominic here to discover the art of weaving.

Beyond the borders

Given the history of The Grain Store, which was originally built as a grain storage facility in the 1960s, it has been wonderful to watch the harvesting take place. There is something quite mesmerising about the smooth long lines created by the machines at this time of year as the farmers gather the grain.

A place to savour the seasons

With summer behind us, we are already looking forward to autumn and winter which can be a particularly lovely time to enjoy East Sussex. The South Downs are often illuminated in low autumnal lighting, boasting golden grasses and trees. At times, including last winter, we have even been honoured with a touch of snow, here’s hoping for a return of winter wonderland.

Thanks for reading, Anni.