07/21/2026
In her mid-50s, Tasha Tudor fulfilled her long-held dream of living in Vermont by devoting her considerable energy to building a new home. She laid down her watercolour brush, completing no books from 1971-1975, the longest book sabbatical of her career.
As usual, she knew exactly what she wanted. Her eldest son Seth already lived in Vermont and helped Tasha purchase adjoining land. Under Tasha’s guidance, he recreated a 1740s Cape Cod-style house owned by a New Hampshire friend.
Over time, Tasha created a cottage garden masterpiece saying “Some people call this a cottage garden, but it’s just a good messy garden. There’s no plan. It’s not like a painting – I just stick the plants in. I like large quantities of blooms all jumbled together: Reine de Violette roses, thalictrum, artemisia, iris, pinks, clematis, peonies, and forget-me-nots.”
Tasha suggested that her garden ought to return to nature after her passing. Her family continues to preserve this national treasure, but she may be getting her way after all. Flocks of cedar waxwings, vireos, sparrows, wrens, robins, and more delight in the concealing shrubbery. It is more like the Secret Garden than ever.
The main garden residents are the foxes who have raised litter after litter under the barns over the past decade. They watch Tasha’s family lawn mowing and weeding - bearing the presence of people who offer some safety from coyotes. The kits wrestle in the garden, mindless of the heirloom hollyhock seedlings.
Still living throughout the property, multiple generations of Tudors tend to the historic home, maintain the gardens and seedlings, raise chickens, and march through well worn paths with the newest generations of corgis.
The family isn’t sure what the future holds for this national treasure; a home with one foot in the late 20th century and the other in the 1830s. But there are many possibilities under unhurried consideration as they manage and live amongst her legacy.