Those of you with long memories will remember Geoff Hamilton. For those of you who don't, let me introduce you. Geoff was a presenter on
BBC's Gardener's World back in the 1990's; a personable, enthusiastic and
knowledgeable 'Peoples' Gardener' before the programme became populated by celebrities and its format turned into a glossy magazine stlye of show with its
nitty-gritty gardening content sadly reduced. He was an early advocate of organic gardening at a time when it was still a radical, even cranky, approach and can possibly take the credit for introducing the concept to the general public.
His garden, or
gardens, as there are
38 individual gardens at
Barnsdale are open to the public and are a delight to wander around at any time of the year. We went over today to make the most of a sunny February day, to get some ideas for adding interest at this time of the year and to see what even the best gardens look like when laid bare by the winter.
Here are some of the pics that I took.
Barnsdale Gardens are in
Rutland. Here's the website
http://www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk
7 comments:
I have a rose called Geoff Hamilton - I believe it was one of David Austen's roses. I never knew who he was, so thank you for educating me.
Cindee
I loved Geoff Hamilton and it's good to know that Barnsdale is still going strong. Recently I came across his book, Complete Gardening Course, which I've passed on to some newbies who were delighted with it. We're going to make a demonstration kitchen garden, and I think some rosa Geoff Hamilton will have to be slipped in to the design. thanks for the pix
Yes, Gardener's World has certainly changed over the years. It's been announced that they'll be going back to basics this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing the changes.
Wouldn't know about Gardeners World, as I never watched it. However, the the "enlightened age" I might have to give it a look. His gardens look interesting!
I loved watching Geoff on gardeners world and it was such a loss to the gardening community when he died so young - a bit like the death of John Cushnie last month.
I used to order some of my more unusual plants from Geoff's mail order service all those years ago - I still have some of them in this garden.
Hi Ian,
I thought you (and your readers) may be interested to know that Nick Hamilton, son of Geoff and now Head Gardener at Barnsdale, will be answering questions and giving advice in a live Twitter chat on Thursday evening with the hashtag #Barnsdale.
For more info, click here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121864704500240&index=1
Hi Ian,
we have several pairs of tickets to the launch of the Lands' End Colour Garden at Barnsdale to give away to garden bloggers - this will also include the opportunity to meet Nick Hamilton and Adam Frost. Please e-mail me at jo-ann.hodgson@icrossing.co.uk if this is something you'd be interested in.
Many thanks,
Jo
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