Monty Don welcomes us to Monty Don's British Gardens Episode 2 The North and Northern Ireland.
Monty starts by telling us he has been to gardens all over the world and been a gardener and made gardens his whole life. Gardening is his life just like he needs air to breath.
Now its the turn of Great Britain for Monty to explore and to explore why gardening and gardens are so popular here.
From large gardens where you can do anything you want to them or small gardens where you can imagine and create in too.
We all love a garden and they can be made just about anywhere.
Is this to do with being British, where we live or just that as a nation, we love gardens and gardening.
Monty has spent a year travelling and filming as many gardens as he could, new gardens for him, gardens with climate problems and of course the British eccentric gardens!
His quest was to find out what really is a British Garden or does it not exist?
Presenter
Special Guests
Jim Lowther
Peter Tasker
Chris Crowder
Brid Ruddy
Martina O'Toole
Neil Porteous
Mike Buffin
Professor Nigel Dunnett
Colin and Marylen ParkerGraeme Watson
Andy Karavics
Miranda Legard
Tom Stuart-Smith
Gardens visited
Monty starts this weeks journey in the Lake District, then heads south before crossing over to Northern Ireland then back to England.
Monty is in Penrith, Cumbria to visit the ruins of Lowther Castle the house and garden had both turned to ruins over the years but now the garden is being restored and is now actually part of the inside of the building too.
The castle was built in the 19th Century by the first Earl of Lonsdale, 130 years later it was abandoned and the land has been in the family since 12th Century.
Jim Lowther now runs the Estate since 2006 and is also an explorer and Mountaineer and explains the decline of the family fortune and tax bills meant it was impossible to maintain the building.
The 5th Earl known as the Yellow Earl was too extravagant with a fleet of Yellow Rolls Royce's and spent all the money and left the castle abandoned and all contents sold upon his death.
Jim's Father, the 7th Earl did not like the castle as he saw it as a symbol of decadence and he removed the roof to the building and turned it into a pig farm, with Battery Chicken sheds on the lawns.
He then in the 120 acre garden overplanted Acers and Sitka Spruce trees.
When Jim took over following his death in 2006 he straight away bulldozed the chicken sheds and started his garden restoration in 2008 using Landscape Designer Dan Pearson.
The new garden is part of the building with a Yew Parterre in the front with grasses and Perennials.
Plants inside the ruins grow up the walls and the planting inside makes it almost dream like.
Jim has a 20 year restoration plan so he only halfway through and he is excavating the Edwardian Rock Garden which lay hidden under the recent covering of the garden by his Father.
Jim motivation is to do something good with the garden and building, the opposite to his Father.
Monty says this place has very much the fell of a 'new garden, new place' even though its a historic Castle.
A small garden is next but a very well known one as it was once the holiday home of Beatrix Potter Hill Top.
Monty is on the wrong side of Lake Windermere and takes the small ferry across which takes just minutes and then arrives at Sawry where the most loved Children's writer lived.
Beatrix Potter mostly lived in her house in the Village and Hill Top was her original Holiday Home and also where she went to work and write her books.
She was born in London to a middle Class family and the family holidayed in the Lake District where she got her love for animals and the countryside there.
She bought Hill Top in 1905 with the money earnt from her first book The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
The gate at Hill Top features in Jemima Puddle-Duck as well as the garden path which is now surrounded by informal flower beds.
In front of the house is the famous vegetable garden with its also well know gate.
Peter Tasker, Senior Gardener at the National Trust and has been here for 35 years and Monty talks to him about the difficulties of gardening here.
Visitors expect the garden to be a certain way and immaculate but the garden is designed to be unkempt as Beatrix was not a gardener.
They are not sure if her book illustrations were real to life but there are some photographs of the original garden.
They use plants that were of the time in the garden and most visitors ask him all the time if he is Mr McGregor.
What interest Monty at Hill Top is that its a recreation of Beatrix Potter would have had as well as being a typical Cottage Garden of its time.
Cottage gardens are a mix of Flowers, fruit and Vegetables all grown together and is typical of most gardens at this time.
Monty near Kendal and visiting a garden he first went to over 30 years ago Levens Hall and it is Britain's oldest surviving garden dating from 1690's!
It has remained mostly unchanged and it has the most incredible Topiary Garden surrounded by bedding plants which is all grown here too.
Monty meets with Chris Crowder who is the gardens 10th Head Gardener and a crucial task is to renew the garden whilst keeping to its history.
Monty met him over 30 years ago and Chris told him that the garden could be recreated in 30 years, so for 300 years its be kept exactly the same.
Chris had added his own pieces of Topiary which are now fully grown and although the Topiary remains the same they change the bedding plants twice a year and have fun planning that.
Chris keeps bees so they are also in mind when designing the planting as well as making it look good.
Monty thought the Orchard had changed but Chris says it kind of the same but its now planted with an old fashioned wildflower mix to border the pathways through the old fruit trees.
Monty likes the new style of planting and it fits in well with the more structured Topiary.
The garden is looked after by a lot of Volunteer Gardeners and beyond the Orchard is an old Bowling green being used by a local Croquet Club and they maintain the grass in lieu of rent.
Monty asks Chris what makes up a typical British garden, he answers borders, hedges, grass, well kept but also a mix of wilder parts.
Monty says the secret to preserving this garden is that it can adapt and does change, even if it is at a slow pace and the Bee borders are a great change without effecting the gardens' history.
Monty is in Northern Ireland and in South Belfast in the Holy lands area which now has a more diverse population and is rebuilding itself after a very troubled past.
The residents are using plants to transform a once neglected area which they have called Wildflower Alley which run behind the terrace houses.
Monty meets with Brid Ruddy and she shows Monty their little haven and she explains it actually runs between 3 streets, College Park Avenue, Rugby Road and University Avenue.
The alley used to be a rubbish tip with drug dealers and crime so they got gates put at the ends to stop access then reclaimed the lane back.
All the gardens are individual from each house but they all flow into one big garden all the way along the alleyway.
This has brought the streets together with everyone out tending there own garden making it a calm place and using a Belfast expression 'I get my head showered when I come and sit here'.
The alley has inspired others to do the same.
Monty visited another such alley Eden Alley in the North of Belfast which was created by Martina O'Toole and the residents to grow vegetables during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Monty is impressed with the garden and tells Martina they look like Chelsea show gardens and there are vegetables and a apple tree and it is great for the children to see them all being grown.
He tells her what a great symbol of the new Belfast and not the past and Martina says people background and religion does not even come into it anymore its all about the gardening.
Monty on the north Antrim coast to visit Glenarm Castle and there been a castle on this site since 1636 but there a newly designed walled kitchen garden Monty come to see which has been built to draw in new visitors.
It is set out as rooms with ornamental fruit trees, hedges to divide and lots of lawn covering 5 acres all surrounded by the walls.
Monty first reaction is that there is so much green, lots of people are cutting back on the size of their lawns, or getting rid, letting grass go wild, worrying about keeping it green when less rainfall or too much or food for pollinators.
They have high rainfall here so it will be kept green so they have designed it with loads of grass.
They have also used lots of texture and form in the garden, with bare trunk of trees to grass mounds and on the outside of the walls are herbaceous borders in different colour schemes.
Even though its a modern design there are still historic parts to the garden like the circular Herb Garden and fruit trees.
Monty meets Garden Consultant Neil Porteous who bringing in more exotic plants which will be of interest to the gardeners that visit and they are by the sea with the Gulf Stream so they can grow all sorts.
It can be humid with all the rainfall and Neil says it helps in the Summer to water the plants with the heavy dew.
Gardening is becoming increasingly popular in Ireland and people like the more unusual.
Monty heading south of Belfast to visit a garden really effected by Climate change that may not even survive called Mount Stewart which is by Strangford Lough which has a micro climate all of its own.
The garden is 70 acres mostly woodland and it belonged to Edith Helen also known as Lady Londonderry and was a suffragette and formed the Women's Legion in the 1st World War.
In 1920 she started the garden and she was fully involved with every decision up to her death in 1959.
The garden made up of different areas with distinctive planting in each and round the back of the house there is an Italian Garden with its symmetrical beds although structured the same the colour schemes are different.
There is a pool in the middle and the left planting scheme is rising sun then the right is sunset.
Edith could not resist plants and had to have as many as she could fit in!
At the edge are what looks like classical stone pillars but she designed them from concrete and they have monkeys sat on the heads.
There are a eclectic range of trees from all over the world all mixed with the existing trees.
Edith was more passionate about certain plants like her Lilies and there are thousands in the garden which are mixed in amongst the trees.
Monty meets with Mike Buffin Head Gardener and he told Monty how Edith would overspend all the time on the garden much to her Husband dismay.
She was constantly changing all areas so to keep it authentic they garden in her style and replace areas like for like.
With climate change they look for more resilient replacements.
Edith had extended the garden way beyond its natural borders and because it is right on the Lough they risk losing the garden as sea levels rise and that brings sea water.
In the next 100 years the lowest parts of the garden will be under sea water so they are cataloguing the areas of the garden that are at risk and then looking to move it to higher ground.
At the top of the garden is the walled garden so that will be ideal and save the garden from climate change.
Monty is back in England in Manchester and is visiting a garden that was once abandoned wasteland next to a motorway and the River Medlock is the redeveloped Mayfield Park.
The Rivers in cities act as drains with the factories using them to dispose of waste sometimes toxic but as part of the redevelopment the River was a crucial part of it.
Having the cleaned up river attracts even more wildlife to the Park.
The park contains lots of open space to play even though it is right in the City and part of the design is to make the Park look natural with its planting.
The Play Towers in the playground area are constructed to reflect the Industrial history looking like Chimneys and steel girders are used in the Park.
Monty likes that it had an Industrial past surrounded by City noise and that they kept the River through the site and people really enjoy using this space its a real Oasis.
Monty gone across the Peak District into Yorkshire to Bradfield to visit Bramblewood Cottage
it is the home of Climate resistant Pioneer, Professor Nigel Dunnett.
Monty meets Nigel in the garden to show him how in the garden he is tackling climate problems.
The garden is very lush and recent rainfall has helped but it is actually a rain garden which catches and stores water that comes off the house.
When they moved in he cut the houses downpipe and added pipework to make it drain into the garden.
He has planted a mix of plants including bog plants and some plants that don't like it too wet!
Other areas of the garden include a mix of native and non native plants so they get a good range of insects.
The garden looks wild but it has all been carefully planned by Nigel and he asks him what are the climate change problems we face?
Nigel says the future is unpredictable so its best to have a diversity of plants as some will manage better than others.
As well as pollinators Nigel has lots of log piles from trees he cleared on the site and these are great habitats for insects and mammals.
Monty says you can have a beautiful and wildlife friendly garden.
Monty now just outside York to visit one of the largest gardens in the North called Breezy Knees.
It is 20 Acres and 20 years ago it was just a field but Colin and Marylen Parker created the whole garden.
Colin blames it on a 'mid life crisis' and previously he had worked as a Pharmacist alongside his wife and he got to the stage of wanting to what he enjoyed which was gardening.
The farmland was council tenanted and then they sold if off in plots and they bought the biggest one and started planting trees and hedges as it was a windy site and thats how they got the name too!
Once they got some shelter they started planning the rest of the garden in various styles and the garden has over 7,000 different varieties of plants.
Colin loves the plants and Marylen sees to the business side of the garden.
Monty met people obsessed with certain plants but he never met anyone obsessed with a whole garden with such passion and Colin has a big enough garden to have any plant he wants.
The North York Moors is a special place for Monty and he first came in 1979 with his wife to be Sarah and they ran away here to spend the winter in a place on the edge of the Moors and it was magical.
To come here he feels like he is returning home.
Monty is taking us to a truely British event, its eccentric and passionate and on the first Tuesday in August its the Egton Bridge Gooseberry Show.
The show has been running since 1800 on the same day by The Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Society to find the heaviest Gooseberry.
There are only 2 shows like it and entrants come from all over to compete and a first time entrant tells Monty they cover them in golf brollies to keep the sun and rain off the Gooseberries.
Another entrant tells him that you cannot get any advice off the regular growers as they keep it secret and he has only just found out about the umbrellas.
To find the heaviest Gooseberry they use an Apothecary Scale with traditional measures like drams and grains.
They also have traditional Judges and previous winners have weighed in at 33 Drams.
Graeme Watson World Champion in 2019 set a new Record and Monty is after his secrets and Monty starts by asking him about his growing techniques.
He says its getting the right varieties and the looking after and he loves growing he calls himself a grower.
He loves a Gooseberry Crumble too but he doesn't use the prize ones, he also makes Gin with them.
Monty was given the task of handing out the prizes at this years show and the heaviest Gooseberry at 29 drams, 5 grains was a white one, variety Belmarsh and the grower was Graeme Watson!
The competition at these shows are intense but the growers are all happy to be there taking part in their favourite hobby, gardening.
The next garden has been an important part of British garden design and planting and it is a walled garden at Scampston Hall.
Monty first visits the Potager and it has 4 acres in the walled garden belonging to a grand house producing lots of fruit and vegetables to feed them throughout the year.
The garden became abandoned and left then in 1997 Dutch Garden Designer Piet Oudolf was brought into rejuvenate the whole area.
The result is a stunning modern garden design which is divided by beech hedges and each area has a theme like the Serpentine Garden, the Silent Garden and in the middle a Perennial Meadow.
This was his first British garden and coming from a different country he had a vision for the area not just a 'posh allotment'.
He created a whole garden with meadows, borders, mounds, hedges, grasses and water features all set within the walls.
The influence of this garden has made a huge impact on British garden design and being replicated all over in other gardens.
The garden is currently under restoration to its original design because the hedges have been allowed to over grow and lose the structure.
The Head Gardener Andy Karavics has been doing most of the work along with the owner Miranda Legard and Monty met with them both in the Green house.
They formed a team during the Covid-19 lockdown when Andy was very new to the job, just 6 weeks in most of the gardening team was on Furlough.
Miranda started helping in the garden and she was completely new to it but had no choice as Andy was completely on his own.
She said this was the best way to learn about her garden and gardening.
Monty looking at the original plans for the garden and they decided to restore the garden back to the original design they had to start the garden all over again.
Andy cut the hedges and Miranda was on rake duty clearing up the cuttings.
Piet Oudolf is now a world famous designer especially known for his use of grasses and Perennials in big sweeps of colour.
Monty loves his use of hedges in the garden to block out parts and give you glimpses of other bits.
Monty heads back to the Peak District to visit one last grand garden at Chatsworth.
Every generation has added something to this garden and he visiting to see what new to the garden from this one.
The garden is 500 years old but the biggest change was in 1840 when the 6th Duke along with Head Gardener Joseph Paxton with the Emperor Fountain and Great Conservatory which was sadly demolished in 1920.
They want to revamp his designs but also add new parts to the garden and Monty meets Garden Designer Tom Stuart-Smith who takes him to the Rockery.
He is helping them with the transformations and he has been working on the Paxton designed Rockery and Monty describes it a 'Gothically Strange'.
Tom says people forget this is a 1840 designed Rockery and is not like our Alpine growing ones its about being dramatic and setting a scene.
It is made up of stacked Gritstones and it had become overgrown and neglected and Tom has added some more natural planting, curved the paths and added Sandstone boulders.
You can tell the newer stones by there yellow colour but they will age and blend in better.
They had heavy lifting equipment to do this but in 1840 it would all have been done by brute strength and a mad design.
Tom also been working on the 100 acre garden, which is above where the maze is and where the Great Conservatory was.
He has been clearing trees and creating new views then replanted the whole area, with the 100 steps running straight up and through it.
The 15 acre area is called Arcadia and they have used a quarter of a million plants for maximum impact and the plants comes through in waves at different times of year.
Monty asks him if there is such a thing as the 'British Garden' and Tom says he does not think there is as they are so different, some horticultural, some for climate change / ecology and some nature / landscape.
Everyone doing their own garden, there own way and thats what makes them wonderful.
Monty says everything at Chatsworth is on a huge scale and so is the new garden, which is very fitting to Paxton's vision.
Monty ends by saying if there is room for a garden, us British Gardeners will make one.
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