26 July 2004

The Kitchen Garden

About a week ago my neighbor showed me a little book about “Keeping Hens”.  She said the author, Francine Raymond had a little cottage garden somewhere around Bury St. Edmunds and on Fridays and Saturdays Francine invited people into her place for tea.

It immediately became my goal to find Francine and spend some time with her in her garden.  My determination became even stronger after I read her little 31 page booklet on her philosophy about keeping hens in a proper English garden.

The Kitchen Garden (http://www.kitchen-garden-hens.co.uk) has the cutest website I’ve ever visited.  Each category such as the catalogue or the diary is an egg you can click on, which immediately becomes a little biddy.  The whole site was really simple and easy to use.

Francine’s place is actually situated on Church Lane in the tiny town of Troston, which is way out in the countryside.  We drove past rolling wheat fields that were just turning that glorious tan color.  On through little towns with houses filled with thatched cottages, and blooming holly hocks.  At one point we even passed an amazing ancient windmill.  Finally we rounded the pub in Troston, and then turned at the first road on the left. 

The inspiration for Francine’s writings, the cottage and the fluffy yellow chickens are definitely of the storybook variety.  The house is hundreds of years old but has been lovingly restored, and filled with simple comfortable furniture like an very long wooden table with inviting chairs surrounding it.

When we entered the garden we passed through a small building that houses a shop.  Garden gloves, small garden tools and the booklets Francine has written are all for sale here. 

The chickens, three hens and a gorgeous rooster cluck and crow in the shop, and out in the gardens.  There are many different varieties of ducks around as well. 

The garden isn’t anything fancy though.  The joy of this place is the simplicity.  Everything seems designed so that the chickens, ducks and humans can live in harmony.  For instance, the parts of the garden that the fowl would  harm with their scratching are covered with little chicken wire frames.

They also have their own house for brooding, and for protection at night.  Everything is painted the same as the house, ________check the photos for the colors….

After Francine greeted us we scoured every inch of the garden.  She had just dug up her garlic, and it was drying on top of a chicken wire cage.  Her artichokes were tall and fat.  The lettuce rested safely under the cages.

Eventually we ended up in the kitchen of the house where Francine offered us a cup of tea and some delicious scones.  I chose to eat a kind of bread that had feta cheese and black olives delivering an unusual, but great taste.

Francine sat down to talk with us.  She was keen to talk about her ideas, and how she manages to make a living since her husband died two years ago from those wonderful hens.  She’s sold 20,000 copies of her book “Keeping Hens”.

We left The Kitchen Garden feeling like we’d just been allowed inside of a special place…a place filled with a philosophy that respected life, whether it be a hen or a human being.