NEWTON St Cyres recently lost a much-liked parishioner, Prue Quicke, and the parish council extended its sympathy to the family on learning of her death.

Prue Quicke, who was born in 1928, moved to Newton St Cyres when she married John Quicke in 1953.

Her father was a distinguished Naval Officer, keen to improve the standing of the Engineering branch of the Navy.

Prue had been an art student at Chelsea Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art.

Her daughter Mary said: “She produced six children, coinciding with the Baby Boom. She was a pioneer of healthy eating, making her own bread, keeping bees and developing a vegetable garden that supplied the family with a wide variety of unusual fruit and vegetables. She was also a hands-on mother, committed to state education.”

The family lived at Newton House, where they restored the Arboretum after its wartime decay.

In 1968 they moved to Sherwood, where they restored and developed a stunning 17-acre garden with plant collections of national importance.

Prue set up and ran the cheese business on the farm in 1973, remaining active in the business until the end of her life.

She also gave time to many local activities. She was first Chair of the parish twinning with Rots.

Prue was involved in the governance of Newton St Cyres Primary School and Queen Elizabeth’s School in Crediton.

She supported many village activities, running fetes at Newton House and charity and educational events at Sherwood.

Outside the village, she was a Greenham Common protester and created Farmers For a Nuclear Free Future. She was also a trustee of Dartington Hall for many years.

Mary continued that her mother had a full spiritual life, attending services for many years with the nuns at Posbury, exploring the works of Gurdjieff, Jung, and eastern traditions including Transcendental Meditation and Sai Baba.

“She returned to her art as her children grew, holding several exhibitions, working under her maiden name Prue Berthon.

“She developed a career as an illustrator of greetings cards and children’s books.

“She referred to Sherwood Garden as ‘my big sculpture’, with attention to colour and form of plants still apparent in the garden.

“She supported John in his agricultural politics, where he was instrumental in developing the thinking that led to government funding of farmers to produce environmental benefits, now EU-wide. He received a knighthood for this work.

“She did not enjoy her title, and recognised the contribution she had been to that work.”

After John’s death in 2009, Prue moved away from Sherwood, living in Exmouth and Crediton before returning to Newton St Cyres for her last illness, where she died peacefully on March 4.

Mary added: “She had been told by her art teachers, who included Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland, that she was receiving the training to do anything.

“She took on achieving anything she felt inspired by and that she felt would make a difference. She is much missed by friends, family and all those whose lives she touched.”