It is a long way from the bright lights of the West End to the green fields of the West Country, but Sarah Mead is the sort of person who takes such things in her stride.
“I got here through love,” says the co-owner of Yeo Valley Organic Garden (and its adjacent dairy empire). “It wasn’t the plan. I wanted to be Liza Minelli and had an unlikely obsession with the musical Cabaret, but then I married a farmer and moved to Somerset.”
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Initially, the young couple divided their time between Somerset and London, with Sarah supplementing her meagre income as a dancer by showing flats for a developer.
But when her husband Tim’s father died they returned to support his mother, moving into the farmhouse and inheriting the garden at the same time. “Theatre school is a fantastic life lesson. It teaches you to have a chat with yourself then get on with it.” Magnificently unfazed by being catapulted into the countryside at the age of 25, Sarah promptly got stuck in.
A garden is very forgiving. If something goes wrong, you can change it
Established by Tim’s parents in the early 1960s, diversification had led Yeo Valley Organic Farm from dairy to cream teas and pick-your-own strawberries, together with the question of what to do with lots of
skimmed milk. “We had a discussion around the kitchen table, and yoghurt won over ice cream as it is less seasonal and you don’t have to freeze it. The rest is history,” says Sarah.
Some gardens put on a wonderful show, but I like a flavour of the people behind it all too.
The six-and-a-half-acre garden, too, proved seductive, and having discovered Christopher Lloyd’s book The Well-Tempered Garden, Sarah didn’t look back. “It’s been a complete addiction and I have trained myself as much by trial and error as anything else,” she says. “A garden is very forgiving. If something goes wrong, you can change it. And when it came to organic principles, there was no ‘Road to Damascus’ moment; I just never learned to garden any other way.”
Among the many gardens Sarah visited, Hadspen House (now The Newt in Somerset) was particularly influential. “I blame Nori and Sandra Pope for getting me into gardening,” she says, referring to the couple who had a famous nursery in the walled garden there in the 1990s. “They were generous, encouraging and dynamic, and they used colour in a really theatrical way. It was there that I discovered that you could use colour as a design tool and have fun with it.
“There are many wonderful gardens, places that are more stylish, more historic, more elegant even, that you could argue have more taste. But the gardens that stick with me are those here the owner is involved and invested. Some gardens put on a wonderful show, but I like a flavour of the people behind it all too.”
Over the past 35 years, Sarah’s bold approach and fearless, have-a-go attitude have made their mark on Yeo Valley Organic Garden. With ornamental and productive plantings, it is made up of themed spaces which are diverse and gloriously, almost wilfully idiosyncratic, it confidently reinforces her assertion that adopting organic principles does not equate to a horticultural hair shirt and that a garden can be vibrant, have a strong sense of design and also be organic. “I am fickle. I change my mind, try new things and go with my gut feelings.”
Find more details of the first Yeo Valley Organic Garden Festival on 18-20 September 2025 at yvogardenfestival.co.uk
Enjoy 26% off Yeo Valley Organic Garden Festival tickets when you come a Gardens Illustrated member
Of her own design process, she says: “In a garden it is a great luxury to have confidence and stability, where you can afford to take the longer view, as you know that you are never leaving. While planting bulbs for short-term impact, you can also plant 17 cherry trees, and know that you will see them grow.”
In 2021, all Sarah’s horticultural dreams came true when they took the garden to RHS Chelsea Flower Show, in collaboration with designer Tom Massey. “A totally organic show garden was a risk we were comfortable with, but the garden was delayed due to the pandemic. When the original sponsor pulled out, Tim decided to do it anyway – we just went for it,” she says. “I got far more involved than I thought I would.
For Sarah, things have come a long way from the days of icing cakes for the NGS, baby on hip and aided by an army of long-suffering friends, but she still continues to forge new path. In the garden, a new buddleja meadow is starting to establish, the gravel garden is time-consuming and the grass border is due to be replanted, but her current focus is the Yeo Valley Garden Festival in September.
“I hope it will become a successful and well-regarded annual event,” she says. “We are a nation of gardeners and I feel strongly that we need to highlight the potential impact of acting in a more consciously environmental way. There are a lot of us, and it is our responsibility to get together and explore what we can do.”
Useful information
Find out more about Yeo Valley Organic Garden at yeovalley.co.uk and find more details of the first Yeo Valley Organic Garden Festival on 18-20 September 2025 at yvogardenfestival.co.uk
Enjoy 26% off Yeo Valley Organic Garden Festival tickets when you come a Gardens Illustrated member