It’s the early 1970s, in the local library at Nunawading, suburban Melbourne. A 10-year-old boy has escaped the dusty summer outside and is leafing through the oddly anglophiliac collection of gardening books, drinking in pictures of lush English gardens like those of Sissinghurst Castle and Hestercombe House.

Encouraged by his parents, he is already a budding horticulturalist. But something about those ancient, moss-covered walls, the stately lawns, the fountains, the fantastic topiary and whimsical follies exerts a powerful allure. A desire is seeded deep within his young heart: a yearning for an English country garden of his very own.