Even at this time of year when most of the trees are still bare, there is a feeling of abundance in Martin Crawford’s forest garden, close to the banks of the River Dart in Devon.
Crawford, who has nurtured this landmark garden for three decades, is clearly in his element, pointing out the edible plants that flourish in the tangly two-acre patch, stooping from time to time to pick a leaf or green shoot and take a nibble.
The garden on the Dartington Estate, near Totnes, is seen by many as the finest of its kind in the temperate world, helping to pioneer techniques in agroforestry, a promising method of agriculture using trees and multi-crop planting.
But it is now in jeopardy after the landowner served Crawford with notice to leave. The move has caused howls of protest from respected figures within the world of horticulture and ecology, and also from amateur eco gardeners who have replicated Crawford’s agroforestry methods on their own plots.
It is all the more surprising because for a century, Dartington has been run as a progressive centre for environmentally friendly land use, farming and education.
Crawford, a normally mild-mannered man, is angry at how he feels he is being treated and sad that the garden may be lost.
“It came out the blue,” he said. An email sent from an estate employee discussed a fallen tree and then added almost as an afterthought: “On a different note, I have recently been asked by the trust to serve notice.” The email added: “I appreciate this may be inconvenient.”
“I was very shocked,” said Crawford. “I couldn’t believe it. I kept re-reading it. The thought that 31 years of work could be trashed so casually was devastating. I feel I’ve been treated like a serf.”
As well as looking after the forest garden, Crawford runs courses at the site. He estimates that 50,000 people have visited, and many have gone away to create projects across the world based on what they have seen and tasted. His book, Creating a Forest Garden, has sold 200,000 copies.
If he was forced to move, Crawford says 31 years of work would be lost. Long-term studies are examining vital issues such how well a forest garden sequesters carbon and stores water would be halted. “This food forest is irreplaceable,” he said. “It is priceless.”
Agroforestry involves growing both trees and agricultural or horticultural crops on the same piece of land. The canopy has to be managed to make sure enough light penetrates but when it is done right, a jungly mass of edible plants forms underneath.
Every level supplies food – for example, nuts from the trees, berries from the bushes and salad and vegetable crops prosper on the woodland floor. There is little need for digging, weeding or pest control.
When the Guardian visited this week, plants available to snack on included alexanders, which taste like celery, Siberian purslane (beetroot-ish) and delicate fiddleheads from young ferns, which could stand in for broccoli.
Crawford plucked some sweet cicily, which has an aniseed flavour and described producing an “amazing” drink by soaking its seeds in vodka. The blossom on a cherry plum was out and Crawford drew attention to a wax myrtle that fell last year and has been “inoculated” with oyster mushrooms that should appear later in the year.
Messages of support for the garden have flooded in. Sir Ghillean Prance, a former director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was “horrified”. “This is a landmark project of excellence and of vital importance to sustainable living,” he said.
Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex and bee expert, said it would be a tragedy if the garden vanished. “It is a rare example of a truly sustainable, holistic approach to growing food and fibre.”
The writer, chef and grower Mark Diacono, said his visit to the garden fired his imagination. “Without that spark, I have no idea what my life would have looked like, but it is perfectly possible that my life in inspiring others to grow and cook would not have happened,” he said.
Within days of the forest garden revealing what was happening, more than 18,000 people signed a petition calling for the decision to be reversed.
Dartington has been blown over by the response. The estate, which centres around a medieval great hall, was bought in 1925 by Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst and became a magnet for artists, architects, writers, philosophers and musicians. In 1991 its Schumacher College became a centre for sustainable education.
But in recent years it has been beset with deep financial problems and the college closed. Because the forest garden is close to the Schumacher buildings, it could make financial sense to offer both to a new tenant.
Amid the growing anger, the trust that runs Dartington posted that it had been a “difficult decision” but it was “bound by economic good sense and best use of assets to ensure its own long-term survival.”
In a later statement it said the trust needed to “fully realise the potential of the former Schumacher College site and surrounding areas.” It said it would meet Crawford for discussusions.
Crawford, 63, hopes there will be way for him to stay. “This forest garden is half my lifetime’s work,” he said. “It’s not static, it’s still developing. This garden needs to be going long after I’m dead and buried.”
