Synopsis
There are song birds and owls in the nesting boxes. Francine and her family have two dogs, a cat and many Pekin bantams.
Francine's love of flowers is reflected in her garden and her flower business. Her stunning flower arrangements are inspired by her garden; she arranges flowers for weddings, parties and funerals as well as running workshops. Some of the flowers and foliage for Francine's work are grown in the garden and found in the hedgerows.
The cottage sits in about an acre of garden with a pond and a little rowing boat on one side and a vegetable garden with lawns, potting sheds and a thatched play house on the other. The play house, on stilts, doubles as a wood store.
This winter feature is in two parts: The first collection has images from a Christmas Wreath making workshop. One of several Francine holds every December when people return every year to make their Christmas door wreaths, eat home baked cakes made by Francine and meet with friends. This year there was a red theme with fir cones sprayed red, dried red apples, red twigs, cinnamon sticks tied with red ribbon and the option of red fairy lights. Most of the greenery comes from Francine's garden.
Francine runs her workshops from a cleverly designed outbuilding known as the Granary. The use of brick, flint and feather boarding makes it look like it has been there for decades not a recent addition.
The second part of the feature illustrates the garden on a frosty morning with ice on the pond and frost highlighting the box hedges and yew topiary. There are surprises around every corner in this wonderful garden, even a little statue of St Francis can be found nestling under the yew topiary at the front of the cottage.
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