A front garden in Pitlochry has been the healing space for a woman who felt at a personal crossroads – and her incredible self-taught green fingers have earned her a place representing Scotland at a top British flower show.
Caroline Bavey (46) was invited to judging day at Chelsea Flower Show last weekend and will be the only Scottish member of a six-strong team presenting a community garden exhibit at the prestigious RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in July.
Caroline has no horticultural background, but she found her gift for planting when Covid and a marriage separation saw her alone in her home in Pitlochry with seeds to plant and, for the first time in decades, time on her hands.
Her early life was complicated, but now like her garden, she’s positively blooming. Caroline said: “I moved to Pitlochry when I was 15, estranged from my family. “I put myself through college whilst working as I had no parents to help.“My life could have gone two ways, after leaving home so young, but I have always been determined and focused on doing my best, I wasn’t going to let life beat me again.“I took a job in sales and marketing and my office career went from there. “I moved to London when I met my husband and was there for 11 years, had my two children and wanted to move back to Pitlochry for a better life and to be able to offer more to the girls. “And here we come all the way up to 2019, I separated from my husband and was suffering from really bad depression.“In 2020 Covid-19 took the world by storm and I was eventually furloughed from my job as a procurement and logistics manager.
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