Sitting in her farmhouse, cradling a cup of Empress Grey tea in her hands, Sarah Raven is reflecting on a long relationship with Country Living. “I’ve had a subscription almost from the start,” she says. “I liked how it celebrated craft and how you didn’t need lots of money to achieve what it was suggesting.”
She has always admired the way the magazine has championed small, rural businesses like her own, which she began in 1999, selling cut-flower seeds from her kitchen table. “Country has a good eye for finding interesting people UK-wide,” she says, “and before social media, it was the main way to reach customers.”
Twenty six years later, that humble seed list is a thriving horticultural empire. A quick dip into Sarah’s eponymous website can easily turn into hours of salivating over the dazzling flower collections, exploring growing guides and watching invaluable how-to videos, all presented by Sarah with her customary enthusiasm and approachability. “This green- fingered thing!” she snorts. “It’s a load of rubbish. There can be a sort of smokescreen around gardening. People are intimidated and they think it’s difficult. It isn’t. You just need someone to show you how to do it.”
Through courses, books and her podcast, Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange, Sarah spreads her conviction that gardening is easy and for everyone, whether you have rolling acres or a tiny city patch. “Some people only have a small balcony, but you can still grow herbs like parsley, tarragon and an apple tree in a pot,” she says. “It really can feed you.”
There is literal sustenance, but Sarah is describing how gardening can nourish mentally, too, an awareness that was, she remembers, missing when she trained as a doctor in her late twenties. “Being involved with plants is so rewarding and replenishing. It grounds you in that day and year and gives you a sense of stability and sameness.” For anyone anxious, gardening is a calming tonic, she says. “It involves repeated creative exercises – it’s like doing sudoku, except your hands are in the soil.”
Jonathan Buckley
Sarah’s long career has been anchored to one location – Perch Hill, the 90-acre farm she moved to with husband Adam Nicolson in 1994. It sits within an ancient landscape of pasture and woodland, high in the Sussex Weald. “We love the whole place,” says Sarah. “The garden and house are important, but they are by no means all of it. The amazing bluebell woodland nearby is one of the reasons we came.”
The garden has evolved from a small cutting patch to an acre and a half, and Sarah and Adam continue to develop the surrounding land. “We’re always doing new things,” she says. “Luckily, we don’t love fast cars or smart clothes, but we love projects.” Recent examples include planting an orchard and putting in thousands of hedge plants. “Because of Adam’s bird obsession, we have planted them in thick, quintuple rows. Birds love thickets,” says Sarah. “Our absolute bond, between Adam and me, is nature and was from the moment we met.”
Jonathan Buckley
While many of Sarah’s followers have been with her for years, she is keen to bring younger people on board and work with new talent. “Young people are so creative and bring different things into a conversation,” she says. “They broaden my horizons and make sure I keep challenging myself.” On her podcast, she has chatted to biodynamic flower farmer Alfie Nickerson and veg grower Anna Greenland, while Arthur Parkinson, who began working for Sarah 14 years ago when he was 19, frequently joins her to teach, as well as advising on her brood of hens. “He’s godfather of the poultry,” she says. There are collaborations with established tastemakers, too, bringing further cross- fertilisation of ideas. The Sarah Raven Collective includes Cath Kidston and bridal designer Savannah Miller, who have each created a dahlia collection. “It’s good for all of us and it’s fun,” says Sarah.
Sarah’s advice to anyone who runs an artisan business is to look after their health. “Time out is really important,” she says. Sarah now exhibits at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on alternate years (look out for her in 2026), since the show demands so much time and work, and each year, she welcomes the slower winter months when she can write and develop ideas for new collections. She has just finished a book on 30 years of growing and arranging cut flowers, which is out next spring.
Jonathan Buckley
From mid-March to mid-October, though, life becomes “pretty crazy”. Running the photoshoots of the flower and vegetable collections she sells takes up most of her time, and Sarah also opens Perch Hill to the public: “I couldn’t possibly have a garden like this for me alone. I would feel like a duchess and it would be pointless.” It’s a belief shared by head gardener Josie Lewis.
“We open the gardens to put on a show and to learn and teach,” Sarah says. “The moment we stop wanting to do that, I will move, I think. I cannot imagine being here without it being an absolute boiling pot of experimentation, but that requires energy and drive.”
Sarah describes herself as “not an extrovert” but her work brings her into contact with lots of people. A team of ten, including six gardeners, works at Perch Hill alone. “During the week, it doesn’t feel like such a private place,” she says, “but on the weekend, I’m in sole charge.” She will go down to the polytunnel and spend two or three hours pricking out and potting seedlings and rooted cuttings. “I might listen to a podcast or just to the birds and I lose track of time,” she says. “I find it’s completely absorbing. It fills me back up.”
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