Jill Cowley
25 August 2011
Jill Cowley, a gardener of national repute, and a former deputy chairman of the National Gardens Scheme, has died aged 74.
With the help of her husband Derek Bracey, an architect, she created, from a barren wasteland in rural Essex, a garden which drew thousands of visitors, experts and gardening writers.
She bought the 0.8ha (2 acre) Park Farm at Great Waltham, near Chelmsford in 1979 when it was littered with derelict barns and agricultural artefacts.
The clearance task was formidable, but her commitment was total, and over the years she transformed it into a garden of great beauty and distinction.
She contributed to gardening and life style magazines at home and abroad and wrote a gardening column for her local newspaper. In 1995 she wrote Beds and Borders for Year Round Colour and was often herself written about, notably by the grande-dame of English gardening, Rosemary Verey. She regularly gave lectures and fronted a television documentary on well-known European gardens.
Jill was deputy chairman of the National Gardens Scheme from 2004-2008, and the Scheme's organiser for Essex from 1999 until 2008, when illness forced her to relinquish her role.
With thanks to Tom Corby for words and Harpur Garden Images