Anna Pavord

Who is Anna Pavord?

Anna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for The Independent and the author of a number of books on plants and gardening. She is an associate editor of Gardens Illustrated magazine, has written for The Observer for some twenty years, and contributed to Country Life, Country Living and Elle Decoration. Besides gardening her interests include sailing, black and white films, Evelyn Waugh and the rainforests of Central America.

Living in Puncknowle in south-west England, she is the daughter of headmaster Arthur Pavord and teacher Christabel Lewis. She married Trevor Ware on 18 June 1966 and has three daughters, Oenone, Vanessa and Tilly. She attended the University of Leicester and graduated in 1962 with a B.A. degree in English. Not aligned with any political party, her religious views are those of a Pantheist.

"The Rectory", her rural garden in Dorset, has been both a healing influence and source of inspiration for more than thirty years. She took up writing about gardening in order to finance the revamping of the building and garden. The one and a half acres of garden of this 300-year old estate in Dorset was used as a nursery for her ideas on horticulture.