Living LANDSCAPE

When Surrey garden designer Helen Thomas and her husband moved into Hill Farm just outside Dorking in 1997, with a baby on the way, they had no idea of the adventure that lay ahead of them. The house is well named, since it sits on the side of a hill with panoramic views in every direction, taking in the Downs, the Weald and the Surrey Hills. The previous owners were not gardeners. “What we inherited was a sloping field with a few mature fruit trees and alas these slowly succumbed to disease and wind,” says Helen.

“I’d had a fairly high-pressure career in HR, and wanted to find something that I could do for myself and yet be sufficiently flexible