Surrey Homes | SH30 | April 2017 |Gardens supplement inside
The lifestyle magazine for Surrey - Inspirational Interiors, Fabulous Fashion, Delicious Dishes
The lifestyle magazine for Surrey - Inspirational Interiors, Fabulous Fashion, Delicious Dishes
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
WT Garden Supplement<br />
The Instant<br />
Gardener<br />
BBC presenter Danny Clarke explains what drew<br />
him into the world of horticulture<br />
Why gardening? I think the bug<br />
for gardening was as a result of my<br />
parents asking me as a child to tidy<br />
their outside space. I remember toiling<br />
for what seemed like ages cutting the<br />
grass with a pair of shears and a push<br />
mower. I can’t say that I enjoyed it<br />
because it seemed like a chore. But years<br />
later when I owned my first property<br />
I found that working on my patch of<br />
land evoked childhood memories of<br />
the scent of roses, the beauty of the<br />
nodding daffodils in the wind, and<br />
the smell of the grass during its first<br />
cut after its winter dormancy. Before<br />
I knew it I was hooked and the seeds<br />
for my future career were sown.<br />
What was your favourite part<br />
about being on BBC One’s the<br />
instant Gardener? For me the best<br />
part about being on The Instant<br />
Gardener was the camaraderie among<br />
everyone on the show, from the<br />
bosses at 12 Yard who produced the<br />
show right through to the runners.<br />
I have forged some great friendships<br />
which I’m sure will last a lifetime.<br />
What’s your favourite local garden?<br />
Great Dixter in Sussex which used to be<br />
owned by the late Christopher Lloyd has<br />
given me so much inspiration. I just love<br />
his relaxed style of planting as well as the<br />
man’s willingness to push boundaries.<br />
Out of all the great gardens this is the<br />
one I probably visit the most. There is<br />
certainly a little bit of Great Dixter in<br />
many of The Instant Gardener projects.<br />
What’s the most valuable piece of<br />
gardening advice you’ve ever been<br />
given? My very first client was a lady<br />
called Jo Bryant. She had the most<br />
amazing larger than life personality<br />
along with the most beautiful garden<br />
which was the love of her life. What she<br />
didn’t know about gardening you could<br />
write on the back of a postage stamp. A<br />
fantastic teacher, I knew her for three<br />
years until her untimely death. I suppose<br />
it wasn’t the advice she gave me that<br />
was so valuable but the way she would<br />
alter my state of mind. For example, if<br />
I arrived at her property and it was a<br />
cold rainy day, she would greet me with<br />
that booming smile of hers and the first<br />
thing she would say is “Danny, how<br />
lovely to see you, what a dramatic day.”<br />
What she was saying is there is no such<br />
thing as a bad day and there’s a beauty in<br />
everything if you choose to look for it.<br />
What’s your biggest<br />
gardening challenge<br />
to date? That’s an easy<br />
one. The first garden<br />
I ever designed and built. It could<br />
have been an absolute nightmare<br />
because the client was very testing. I<br />
remember thinking. “If this is what<br />
this job’s all about then I’m going to<br />
find an office job.” I’m glad I didn’t!<br />
What are you working on at the<br />
moment? I’ve been spending my time<br />
adjusting a friend’s garden in Romney<br />
Marsh. It’s a lovely property which<br />
doesn’t really need my input. The job<br />
has involved opening up the views<br />
into the surrounding countryside by<br />
cutting back shrubs and re shaping<br />
trees on its boundaries, installing raised<br />
beds in the vegetable garden, returfing<br />
some areas and doing a general tidy.<br />
There’s been lots of clearing and<br />
burning which I really enjoy. You just<br />
can’t beat the smell of wood smoke.<br />
Danny Clarke will be talking in<br />
The Garden Hub at Wealden<br />
Times Midsummer Fair on Friday<br />
9 June <strong>2017</strong>. For more information<br />
see wealdentimes.co.uk/events<br />
13 wealdentimes.co.uk