2 days ago
Emily Thornberry on her garden: ‘My son's pet rat died – I dug it up the other day'
The Labour MP Emily Thornberry has been living with her family in Islington for more than 30 years. She grew up in Guildford, Surrey, and originally worked as a human rights lawyer before becoming the MP for Islington South and Finsbury in 2005. She held several shadow cabinet posts before the 2024 general election, and is currently chair of the foreign affairs select committee. Here, she recalls how she became 'obsessed' with gardening during the Covid pandemic, and the ups and downs of creating her own London garden.
Where do you live and what kind of house do you have?
We've lived in Islington since 1992. My husband Chris and I bought this house around the time of Black Wednesday – the 1992 crash. We'd already sold our house in Stepney and were unable to find anything. We were just on the verge of moving in with the in-laws in Hampstead when we saw this three-storey house. It was built in the 1840s-50s and was first owned by a retired admiral and his wife, and also inhabited by her sister, a cook and a maid. Then, as the railways came into north London, houses like ours were turned into multiple occupancy. This one apparently belonged to London's most famous medium. She lived on one floor and held seances in what's now my study.
What kind of garden do you have?
I was pregnant with our second child when we moved in, but among other things, the house needed a new roof, new windows and a kitchen in the basement. We also decided to knock through a wall from the kitchen to give us direct access to the back garden, where we wanted to create a new paved area and large raised beds. We got builders in straight away and that winter they dragged out 20 skips of rubble. They told us they'd be gone by the time the baby arrived; they were still there for her first birthday. By then, I was back working full time at the Bar and we had two children under two. It was a nightmare. I look back and wonder how I kept my sanity. Or if I did.
What does the garden look like now?
The back garden gets sun in the morning and it doesn't return until the evening, so there's a corner which I call 'the bed of doom'. Nothing grows there except bluebells, which always amazes me. Thankfully, on the sunnier sides, we have a few roses and peonies, a climbing hydrangea, plus granny's bonnets and Japanese anemones. Over the years, we've realised that our biggest problem is the slug population. It really is slug city! One of my favourite summer flowers is the delphinium, but I know when I plant them the slugs will be there in a shot. I've started to put them in pots at the front so that I can keep an eye on them – and the slugs.
What kind of trees do you have?
We inherited a couple of old lime trees and Chris bought an apple tree. Unfortunately, he gets apple anxiety when they are about to fall because we're often away and either the local parakeets swoop in or they get bruised hitting the floor. Chris doesn't like waste so what we don't eat or give away ends up in my jellies, pies and crumbles. Three years ago, Chris was up the tree with a ladder and fell off it, smashing his heel. He was in a wheelchair for ages. He's not allowed up that tree any more.
Does the garden have a focal point?
We have a very small pond in one of the raised beds and several water-loving plants around it, including yellow irises in late spring, which I love. Beside the pond is a large sculpture of a crocodile. When our son Felix was little, he had a plastic crocodile and carried it everywhere. One day, Chris took him out for the day and when they returned, he realised they'd lost the crocodile. Felix was inconsolable. I was so cross, I said: 'Chris, go and get another crocodile, for God's sake!'
He brought back this sculpture which had to go in the garden and said: 'He'll never lose this one.' Felix loved animals; he even had a pet rat. When it died, he made a grave for it and gave it a little headstone. The other day, I was planting some foxgloves and I accidentally dug it up. Of course, I had to tell him.
Have you had any gardening projects lately?
The front of the house is where we get most of the sun. It's paved, but one of our neighbours has big olive trees at the front, so during lockdown Chris and I painted the railings and started growing things in pots. Chris has now got a grapevine growing around the railings – we'll have Chateau de Nages down the line – and I've got a beautiful climbing yellow rose. It was my mother's favourite and I have some of her ashes under it. Chris also has tomatoes and rosemary; I have snapdragons, petunias, rain daisies, alliums and cat grass for Aunty Muffin, who's my moggy, and Agent Kokoschka, who's my British shorthair. I bought her from a Russian breeder and she follows me everywhere.
What's your first memory of a garden?
I was one of three and when I was seven, our parents split up. Dad, who was an international lawyer, chucked us all out. Mum got a council house just north of Guildford, on a new estate called Bellfields, where everyone had a garden and a nice lawn, except us. Ours was full of weeds. Mum was a teacher and loved flowers, but she was too busy to garden. Neighbours on either side dug it up for us, ready to put down grass seed, but Mum never did.
So, there was always a sense that our garden wasn't as good as everyone else's. Pressure cookers also remind me of that garden because Mum bought one and would cook all sorts of cheap things in it. One time, she got pigs' trotters for our dinner which were so awful we couldn't eat them. When she wasn't looking, we went out into the garden and buried them.
Do you have space to make your own compost?
Not long after we'd moved in, we bought one of those compost bins that sits in the earth. You fill it up with leaves, cuttings, etc and it all gets broken down under the ground. A couple of years ago, we decided to pull the bin out because it had gone all rusty. The soil at the bottom was amazing so I began using it to fill my new pots. Then, suddenly, I spotted this gold ring. I looked at it and realised it was the ring Chris had given to me when our daughter was born. I'd lost it when she was two or three and for ages I couldn't bear to tell him. I'd looked everywhere, even under floorboards. This ring had been in the ground for 25 years! I must have taken it off when I was chopping vegetables and thrown it into the compost bin. I was amazed. After all those years, it had come back to me.
Do you use gardening as a way to unwind?
Yes. These days, the back garden is where I like to come out after a long day, sit and take a breath. I love it because it's my own private space. For those few peaceful moments, I can leave everything else behind and look at what's growing. The front is different. There, I like the rhythm of watering all the pots and chatting to the neighbours about what I've just planted. Half the time, I don't know what the hell I'm doing or if the plant will survive, but now I realise that doesn't matter. If I make a mistake, I just learn from it. I don't have anything to prove to anyone. I just find myself getting so enthusiastic about it all… and I keep adding more pots. I think I've actually become a bit obsessed.
