Synopsis: 1874 – Undergardener Matthew Lacy (25) is proud to be Foreman at Treefall House. Matthew’s passion is the estate’s walled kitchen garden he had worked on as a Garden Boy when he was a child. He had been away, travelling from garden to garden to learn his craft as a journeyman. Two years ago, he returned to the estate and is still honing his skills – cultivating, pollinating, noting successes in his diary and seeing his hard work come to fruition through the seasons. Matthew’s life is simple: Up at six, finish at six every day except Sunday when its church and a gathering after at the bothy with friends, food, music and beers. But something has been happening. Something magical – 2022 – volunteer gardener, Fliss Walker (70) is early. She’s been planning this fundraising day at Treefell House Walled Garden for months and everything needs to be perfect. It’s not just the public who are coming today; they come every day to see the historic site and buy lovingly grown fruit, veg and flowers and support the volunteer trust that saved the garden thirty years ago. Today prospective funders will be descending on the garden with a promise to provide the financial security needed to continue the trust’s project for generations to come…if they like what they see. For three decades now the volunteers have been lovingly restoring this once abandoned space to revive it to victorian splendour. It’s been a haven for locals of all ages, a tranquil space to lose themselves in, to escape from the busy pace outside its walls. But recently it’s been difficult to remain solvent and the garden needs more than a willing bank of volunteers and loyal customers to survive. In walks Matthew – …through the gates to the walled garden. It’s more than an entrance. Matthew discovered soon after he returned to work at the house that his mentor, Albert Leeper had found a way, with his trusty pocket watch, to travel through time. On any day at 7am the gates can transport him to moments in the garden’s future existence: They’ve both seen it in two world wars, through the decline of the landed aristocracy and the industrial revolution – but never travelling further than the year Fliss reopened the gardens after they had fallen into disrepair in 1992. Neither of them have known if the garden continued to thrive – until today. This is the first time Fliss and Matthew meet. It’s clear from the start that Fliss is full of life, enthusiasm and is as bright and radiant as the garden in its current form and that Matthew is the opposite, lost within the garden’s history, looking older than his years, weathered and in need of light. Can Fliss make him bloom again and safeguard the future of this beautiful plot of land they both love?

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I’m delighted to introduce you to my directing and writing debut, The Walled Garden. Made over a weekend in August 202, with a very small but passionate, creative team, I hope to bring a little feel-good escapism to your screen while celebrating nature and friendship.

Emma is a line producer in scripted television in the UK while writing directing and producing her own projects through her production company, Randombird Productions.

Emma started her career as production runner for UK drama Peak Practice in 1999 and has worked in the arts and media ever since. She was administrator for New Perspectives Theatre Company for six years from 2004 and then commercial development manager for the Media Archive for Central England where she executive produced the award winning documentary From Headlines to Tightlines – The Story of ATV Today in 2013.

TV credits include: Production Coordinator on ‘Tina & Bobby’ (ITV), ‘Galavant Season 2 (Abbey C), Poldark series, 3, 4 & 5 (Mammoth Screen) and Production Manager of Zapped S3 (Baby Cow), I Hate Suzie (Bad Wolf) and The Curse (Tiger Aspect).Most recently she was Junior Line Producer for ‘Better’ (Sister Pictures)

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