{"id":136393,"date":"2025-05-27T16:49:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T16:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/136393\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T16:49:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T16:49:18","slug":"sarah-raven-on-the-mental-benefits-of-gardening-its-like-soil-sudoku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/136393\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Raven On The Mental Benefits Of Gardening: ‘It’s Like Soil Sudoku’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitting in her farmhouse, cradling a cup of Empress Grey tea in her hands, Sarah Raven<\/a> is reflecting on a long relationship with Country Living. \u201cI\u2019ve had a subscription almost from the start,\u201d she says. \u201cI liked how it celebrated craft and how you didn\u2019t need lots of money to achieve what it was suggesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has always admired the way the magazine has championed small, rural businesses<\/a> like her own, which she began in 1999, selling cut-flower seeds from her kitchen table. \u201cCountry has a good eye for finding interesting people UK-wide,\u201d she says, \u201cand before social media, it was the main way to reach customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty six years later, that humble seed list is a thriving horticultural empire. A quick dip into Sarah\u2019s eponymous website<\/a> 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. \u201cThis green- fingered thing!\u201d she snorts. \u201cIt\u2019s a load of rubbish. There can be a sort of smokescreen around gardening. People are intimidated and they think it\u2019s difficult. It isn\u2019t. You just need someone to show you how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through courses, books and her podcast, Grow, Cook, Eat, Arrange, Sarah spreads her conviction that gardening<\/a> is easy and for everyone, whether you have rolling acres or a tiny city patch. \u201cSome people only have a small balcony<\/a>, but you can still grow herbs like parsley, tarragon and an apple tree in a pot,\u201d she says. \u201cIt really can feed you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cBeing 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.\u201d For anyone anxious, gardening is a calming tonic, she says. \u201cIt involves repeated creative exercises \u2013 it\u2019s like doing sudoku, except your hands are in the soil.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"sarah\"pinterest\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan Buckley<\/p>\n

Sarah\u2019s long career has been anchored to one location \u2013 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. \u201cWe love the whole place,\u201d says Sarah. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cWe\u2019re always doing new things,\u201d she says. \u201cLuckily, we don\u2019t love fast cars or smart clothes, but we love projects.\u201d Recent examples include planting an orchard and putting in thousands of hedge plants. \u201cBecause of Adam\u2019s bird<\/a> obsession, we have planted them in thick, quintuple rows. Birds love thickets,\u201d says Sarah. \u201cOur absolute bond, between Adam and me, is nature and was from the moment we met.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"sarah\"pinterest\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan Buckley<\/p>\n

While many of Sarah\u2019s followers have been with her for years, she is keen to bring younger people on board and work with new talent. \u201cYoung people are so creative and bring different things into a conversation,\u201d she says. \u201cThey broaden my horizons and make sure I keep challenging myself.\u201d 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. \u201cHe\u2019s godfather of the poultry,\u201d 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<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s good for all of us and it\u2019s fun,\u201d says Sarah. <\/p>\n

Sarah\u2019s advice to anyone who runs an artisan business is to look after their health. \u201cTime out is really important,\u201d she says. Sarah now exhibits at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\"sarah\"pinterest\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan Buckley<\/p>\n

From mid-March to mid-October, though, life becomes \u201cpretty crazy\u201d. 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: \u201cI couldn\u2019t possibly have a garden like this for me alone. I would feel like a duchess and it would be pointless.\u201d It\u2019s a belief shared by head gardener Josie Lewis. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe open the gardens to put on a show and to learn and teach,\u201d Sarah says. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah describes herself as \u201cnot an extrovert\u201d but her work brings her into contact with lots of people. A team of ten, including six gardeners, works at Perch Hill alone. \u201cDuring the week, it doesn\u2019t feel like such a private place,\u201d she says, \u201cbut on the weekend, I\u2019m in sole charge.\u201d She will go down to the polytunnel and spend two or three hours pricking out and potting seedlings and rooted cuttings. \u201cI might listen to a podcast or just to the birds and I lose track of time,\u201d she says. \u201cI find it\u2019s completely absorbing. It fills me back up.\u201d <\/p>\n

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