www.mrsmitchellskitchenandgarden.co.uk ; e-mail  julianm05@aol.com; tel: 01980863101

                       2, Warren Farm Cottage, The Warren, West Tytherley, Salisbury, SP5 1LU           12 February 2022

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ABOUT US

LOUISE  and JULIAN MITCHELL


We met when Julian was working for the Government of St Kitts and Nevis, two small islands in the Caribbean. Louise came to the Islands on a sailing cruise, jumped ship and stayed! Because expatriate spouses were not able to obtain work permits, Louise started to garden, trying to grow unusual plants ( asparagus, strawberries and roses etc.) Without the facility of a garden centre everything had to be grown from imported seed and propagated in used soup cans or margarine tubs. For compost Louise used ash from “bagasse”( the crushed sugar canes used in the Sugar Factory furnace.) She also used coconut fibre sweepings from under the machinery making coconut matting. ( Was she the first to use coconut fibre as a peat substitute?) Besides the plants Louise also sold eggs laid by her numerous free range chickens and she made and sold Mango Chutney, making use of the glut of fallen fruit that were otherwise fed to the pigs. ( Mango Chutney is still a staple of her comprehensive range of homemade chutneys.)

On returning to the UK we eventually settled in Hampshire in October 1990 and began to develop a classic English Cottage Garden with borders crowded with hardy perennials in a riot of colour which continues from before Easter through to November. The Nursery has been developed to make available most of the plants seen in the garden ( these will be plants that grow well in our difficult soil conditions.)

Louise also produces a range of traditional homemade chutneys, jams and savoury jellies using fruits and vegetable from our garden or gathered from the local hedgerows. Hence the business is called:-     

                   MRS MITCHELL’S KITCHEN AND GARDEN