Fran Slade is a gardener. That is what she would like people to say about her. Her garden is a magnet that draws visitors to her Open House year after year. The garden is a profusion of plant variety, colour, texture and scent. It is alive with the sound of birds and insects. Fran is an organic enthusiast, and keen plants-woman. She also runs an allotment kitchen garden with fruit cages and compost bins. A small orchard of mature fruit trees doubles as a wild plant paradise that is home to foxes, squirrels and slow worms.

Fran Slade thinks in pictures. She has a mental image capability far beyond the norm. As a schoolgirl her painting was chosen to tour Europe as part of a exhibition of British art. Her versatility enabled her to design clothes in the swinging sixties for Carnaby Street, London. She has created inspired home interiors, made children’s toys, illustrated books, published prints and designed greetings cards. Moreover she has continued to paint hundreds of pictures.