The Zimbabwean Gardener Issue 16 Autumn 2016 Low res | Page 12

Garden profile

What’s in
the bottom drawer?
A beautiful café set in a picture-perfect garden is a haven
amidst the chaotic commuter buses in Harare.

This beautiful family-run café is the
perfect spot for a ladies luncheon in an
English-inspired garden with heavenly
homemade food. Two sisters, Bridget
Hoard and Sarah Macmillan, set it up
together in 1995, and have run it ever
since with the help of kind and friendly
staff. It started as a bridal registry on
Seagrave Road, hence the name ‘The
Bottom Drawer’.

The ‘bottom drawer’ is used
to describe the clothes,
sheets, etc. that a young
woman traditionally collects
for use after she is married.
In the year 2000, they moved to
Maasdorp Avenue, close to the centre
of Harare, and opened the restaurant;
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and they continue to sell gifts such as
Maxwell Williams’s fine porcelain and
unique local crafts.
Bridget and Sarah like to support the
local industry and have a buyer who
selects fresh produce like potatoes,
onions and tomatoes from Mbare. Their
mother takes care of the beautifully
laid out vegetable garden at the back
of the café, where they grow an array of
lettuces and herbs for the restaurant.
Sarah has been the driving force behind
the landscaping of the garden. With the
help of two gardeners, they have been
inspired by the English country garden
design and have used a variety of
beautiful perennial flowers, lavenders,
floribunda roses and bushes.
The tables and chairs for the café
are set outside, under the shade of

umbrellas and trees. As the garden has
plenty of trees to provide shade and
not an extensive amount of lawn, it is
a cool setting far from the maddening
crowd.
We all might have our own taste in
garden styles, but what I love about this
garden is that it has a bit of inspiration
for everyone. There is a beautiful
selection of plants that thrives in the
shade under the trees; there are pretty
plants to depict the English garden,
interesting water wise bushes and
beautiful flowers on each table.
It is definitely worth popping in to
The Bottom Drawer on 14 Maasdorp
Avenue, Belgravia and having a
cappuccino, high tea or luncheon while
enjoying the lush surroundings.