Whenever my aunt Hilary Peters had any money – including a large sum given to her by her wealthy father, the literary agent AD Peters – she would give it away at the earliest opportunity. Long before the green movement became fashionable, her interest in religions (though she retained independence from all of them) merged with ecology and a deep love of animals, and in the early 1970s she set about healing some of the barren, post-industrial acres of London’s docklands.
Hilary, who has died aged 83, encouraged young urbanites to connect with nature - such “connectedness” was intrinsic and vital to her - by starting one of the first city farms in Britain at Surrey Docks. She grew plants in the dock’s masonry and made home-made goat’s cheese for city workers’ lunches. Under her care, goats gambolled and hens scratched in an environment far from rural. Her book Docklandscape (1978) gives a good account of her trials and successes.
