Jim Heavens
Jim loves history and loves dressing up. A history graduate from University of Oxford, and with a diploma in gardening history, Jim is fascinated by the stories behind England’s great gardens and country houses and as a natural raconteur enjoys revealing those stories to our guests.
Sarah Heavens
Sarah loves Chelsea Flower Show – she has exhibited antiquarian botanical prints there for twenty years. She also loves country houses, having studied architectural history and worked as an estate agent.
We live in the West Country, in South Gloucestershire, in the village of Bitton, the home of Canon Ellacombe, the famous nineteenth century clergyman gardener. The Canon was renowned for his ability to cultivate difficult plants, often giving away rare specimens to Kew and other famous gardens of Europe. He was known for his generosity, saying: “I hold it to be true economy to divide and distribute as much as possible.” We would like our garden tours to continue his generous spirit.