The Land Gardners at Wardington Manor

Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld (aka The Land Gardeners) met years ago when their now teenaged children were at the same nursery.  They bonded over their shared passion for gardening… Henrietta trained at the Inchbald School of Design and Bridget at the Oxford College of Garden Design.  In 2008, the Elworthy family moved to Wardington Manor, a 17th century Jacobean house in Oxfordshire set on 30 acres of grounds, complete with a beautiful Victorian walled garden. Bridget soon started formulating a plan to grow cut flowers. Henrietta was running her own garden-design studio in Notting Hill at the time. The two decided to pool their resources in 2013, splitting their time between London and Oxfordshire.

Henrietta and Bridget established The Land Gardeners to research plant and soil health, design beautiful and productive gardens, and restore walled and historic gardens from England to Zimbabwe. In Oxfordshire, they grow organic English cut flowers and deliver each week to London florists, individual clients, and special events. Henrietta and Bridget also run workshops at Wardington and beyond on topics from soil health to planning a cut garden.

Their latest book, The Land Gardeners: Cut Flowers, will be released in October and is now available for pre-order!  Today we will explore The Land Gardeners as featured via their website and Instagram, Veranda, House and Garden, Haute Bohemians, The English Garden, the Bible of British Taste.

“Productive gardens are becoming increasingly important to people, and walled gardens in particular have become our focus. We design and plant them, as well as acting as consultants to anyone wanting to run their garden in a more sustainable and economic way. But we love fun and frivolity, and design theatrical, abundant gardens that aren’t too controlled,” Bridged explained to House and Garden.  “We’re both still very much involved in the flower growing, which is the whole point of what we’re doing.” Henrietta added, “You only really get to understand plants by working with them, so it’s definitely the thing that we have to keep coming back to. It keeps us connected.”

I got a little carried away with the pictures, but what better way to start a Monday than with beautiful flowers and English gardens?!  For additional inspiration, please follow @thelandgardeners on Instagram and pre-order The Land Gardeners: Cut Flowers.  For more information on Wardington Manor, I recommend Secret Houses of the Cotswolds.