Shrubland Park

My wife and I moved to Shrubland Park in 1950 after I had secured a job working in the glasshouses and market garden of this large estate. It was a wonderful place to live and enjoy the peace of the countryside. After a couple of years the head gardener left to become self employed. I was then given the chance to take charge of the market garden whilst the pleasure gardens were looked after by someone else. I had been involved with three generations of the Saumarez family by the time I retired in 1999, just a few months short of 50 years since we arrived there. The last 41 years of that time we rented the walled garden and surrounding area and established what became a flourishing chrysanthemum nursery. It was quite a wrench when we had to retire but I did write my memoirs of that very happy 50 years. Sidney G Forsdike