The Search for a New Home

How do we know where to put down roots?

‘What has the deepest and most permanent effect upon oneself and one’s way of living is the house in which one lives. The house determines the day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute quality, colour, atmosphere and pace of one’s life. It is the framework of what one does, or what one can do, and of one’s relation with people.’

Publisher and writer Leonard Woolf, Virginia Woolf’s husband

(Above pix of Oak Spring from the forthcoming exhibition about Bunny Mellon at London’s Garden Museum.)

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The British writer and travel presenter Michael Palin suggested we are all hard-wired to look for a place in a valley to call our own. ‘Many cultures believe that humanity itself originated in a garden, a paradise, which we lost, and deep down yearn to return to,’ he said on the A History of the World in 100 Objects radio series. There is a restlessness to humans, he explained, which seems a significant factor in the way the planet was settled. ‘It does seem that we are not settled yet,’ he suggested. ‘We think we are, but we are still looking for somewhere else where something is better. Maybe there is an element, a spiritual element, of hope in this whole thing. You know that you are going to find somewhere that is going to be wonderful.’

It’s the search for paradise, he adds, that drives us.

I’ve been thinking about this lately, as I search for a new home. I’ve felt uprooted these past two years, after we sold our white cottage and garden by the sea in late 2023, above. (You can find it by Googling “10 Coral Road, Mornington” and the listing in 2023, or the link is – link.)

This is perhaps why I’ve travelled widely these past two years, in a relentless quest to find an enchanted idyll somewhere. I’ve looked at living in Lisbon or Sintra (oh, the gardens there!) and have even investigated the D7 visa for Portugal. I’ve dreamed of eloping with a Cornish farmer (“find a fisherman; farmers are far too busy,” a friend advised) and settling down near the Trebah Gardens by the Helford River. And I’ve even looked at areas around Sydney, where many friends live, but gardens there are terrifyingly expensive. It would be cheaper to buy a yacht and have pot plants.

Last month I stumbled upon the sweetest gardener’s cottage outside of Bath, set in its own floriferous garden, near Mells. (Link) But the rent was too expensive. My friend K, meanwhile, has been looking for a little place to buy in Umbria. (As have I, although my RightMove searches have been going on for years, and are not really rooted in reality but are more horticultural therapy – without the horticulture.)

K stumbled across a rural Arcadia — an old rose farm with 700 old roses, which needed restoring. She sent me a photo. We exchanged animated DMs. I am a Very Bad Friend, however, because I said “BUY IT'“ without urging due diligence, simply so I could visit her and sit in a faded deckchair under an olive tree and watch the Tuscan sunsets. And, okay, help with the rose pruning when she nags me.)

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Someone else who desired a country garden, a quiet idyll of grace and scent and swaying petals far from the cacophony of city life, was Cecil Beaton.

I’ve been writing a biography about Beaton, and about his fellow designers Dior, Givenchy and YSL, and how they all looked to their gardens at difficult times of their lives. (Top pix from the wonderful exhibition Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party, now on a London’s Garden Museum. Other pix from my visit to Cecil’s garden at Reddish House.) As these designers started to cultivate their flowers, they became increasingly aware of the precious, ethereal beauty of plants, and of the wonder of gardens through the seasons. Slowly, they began to find inspiration and ideas for their designs from their botanicals. And over time, their collections became hymns to the horticultural beauty of their beloved country houses and flowers.

As each designer retreated to their gardens, they started to realise they also felt more at peace there than they did in their ateliers or studios in the city. These green retreats were sanctuaries from the beautiful chaos of the fashion industry. And by the end of their extraordinary lives, each of these men considered themselves to be gardeners more than designers; men of the earth rather than architects of fabrics and patterns. Even Beaton, who was initially disinclined to toss around compost or cow manure was a hands-on gardener by the very end.

That’s what gardens do. They teach us humility, hard work, patience, perseverance.

Winston Churchill once said that we shape our buildings and then they shape us, and I think the same can be said for gardens. We try to create our gardens by giving them form, depth, dignity and character. But in the end, I think it’s our gardens that give those things to us.

I hope we will all continue to celebrate gardens and gardeners, past and present – and future too. They remind us to look for the gentle splendour in life. To seek the silver-lined spring mornings beyond the valley mist.

To envisage what could be.

Here a few more pix of my old beach house. (Talk about envisaging what could be. We must have been delusional?) We restored this house and garden ourselves (or I did, as you can see by the badly mortared bricks) during lockdown, while my beloved Cavalier Cooper followed me everywhere. Sadly, Cooper died this week, hence the gentle wander down Memory Lane. I really hope there are gardens in Heaven for him to explore. I’ll continue to search for my next home, which I suspect is around the corner, and I’ll keep you in the loop, so you can toss me a geranium cutting or two.

As always, thanks for reading. This Substack is free, but I’d be so grateful if you can like or recommend it, so it continues to grow. Here are some garden-themed gems for the week ahead. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you keep gardening, whether it’s a pot plant on a terrace or a derelict rose garden in Umbria that needs a bit of love.

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A NEW BUNNY MELLON EXHIBITION

A new exhibition that’s tailor-made for gardeners is the Bunny Mellon x deGournay one, which has just been announced by London’s Garden Museum.

It’s on show from this August until September. There’s a live talk by garden writer Charlotte Moss, which will also be live-streamed for those who can’t go. I picked up the new catalogue of this collab when I was at deGournay in London, and it’s one of the prettiest collections I’ve ever seen. I can imagine the above wallpapers in a potting shed, or even a powder room.

Look up the Garden Museum’s website for more details.

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COCTEAU’S HOUSE AND GARDEN IS NOW A FRENCH HOLIDAY LET

If you’re looking for somewhere fabulous to stay, investigate this place. It’s Cocteau’s former house and garden in the south of France, and it still features his murals, interiors and aesthetics. Everything about it looks enchanting.

Google Cocteau’s house (add in the words “to rent”) for more details.

HIGHGROVE X BURBERRY COLLAB

Have you seen Burberry’s latest ad campaign? So many friends are talking about it, and no wonder. It’s beautiful and brilliant and completely nonsensical, in a fabulous way. It features Downton Abbey actresses Elizabeth McGovern and Laura Carmichael, who play their parts so well.

What’s even more whimsical is that Burberry has collaborated with Highgrove, the Cotswolds garden of King Charles, and created a sophisticated but practical collection of outfits to wear, whether you’re weeding or wandering the peony beds.

The video for it is glorious – Link.

The collection is here – link – or just Google Highgrove x Burberry.

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A WONDERFUL NEW GARDEN BOOK

My friend Victoria Martin manages two enormous walled gardens at Stokesay Manor in Shropshire, near David Austin’s famous garden. She has been entrusted to grow Vita Sackville-West’s old roses, so there are cuttings for future beds at Sissinghurst. (Others are helping, too.) She has released her second book, Flowers in a Hurry. It chronicles the best flowers to grow quickly, if you are trying to jump-start a garden. Follow Victoria on her wonderful instagram at Stokesay Flowers – link. DM her for details or a copy; she always responds promptly.

NEW V&A EXHIBITION FOR 2026 – SCHIAPARELLI

And finally, London’s V&A has just announced its blockbuster exhibition for 2026, and it’s Schiaparelli. Creative director Daniel Rosebery has created some astonishing collections this year so it was only a matter of time before the fashion house started upping its international marketing, and clearly all the buzz has worked because the V&A has now agreed to this incredible retrospective.

There will be more than 200 outfits on show, including the famous ‘rose coat’ above. One to see if you’re heading to London next year.

More on the V&A’s website.