00:00Could you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind your garden?
00:05Well I come from New Zealand and I come from a family of gardeners and architects.
00:10So I think it's in the blood and when my father was over here many years ago,
00:16we walked the house 30 years ago, he designed a vegetable garden for me
00:21and then we sort of discussed the layout of the garden and much later on we put the pond in
00:26and then just last year we put the Japanese garden which was because we've got family living in Japan
00:34and Chris loved the idea of having a Japanese garden so I made one for his 80th birthday.
00:40How much is your favourite spot in the garden?
00:43Now it's the Japanese garden.
00:47How much time do you spend out in the garden?
00:51Well I've got a retail business that's open 7 days a week and I've had it for 26 years
00:58so I can only do really early mornings and in the evenings and Sundays
01:03but I have the wonderful Jackie Percival who's here today who does 5 hours and works a miracle
01:09keeping it all in order. So I'd love to do more, one day if I retire maybe that's what I'll be doing.
01:16And are you looking forward to welcoming visitors as part of the Secret Gardens?
01:19Absolutely, yes I think people are always fascinated to see what's behind these houses in the middle of town
01:26It's amazing.
01:27Because they don't realise how large they are, you know, so no I think
01:31and that we've got beautiful scenery all around so yeah I think it's lovely.
01:37Hi, my name is Olivia Stevens and this is my garden in Ludlow at Sundown.
01:52I'm outside every day as possible gardening with my dog Wilson.
01:58I love this area because it's a shady area, keeps me out of the sun and I like my hosta area which is just behind me
02:10and I've just put in a new bed of yellow roses where we took out a tree
02:16and I'm very much looking forward to seeing you all at the open gardens in a few weeks time.
02:26Good morning, I'm Richard and this is Jane Harding. We've been living here in Ludlow for about 15 years now.
02:33The house was built 10 or 12 years before we bought it on the site of an old Augustinian friary
02:41which was then excavated in the 1980s and the house built on the ruins.
02:47So quite a lot of the features in the garden are based on the remains of the refectory of the friary.
02:55So a lot of the walls you see are actually medieval.
02:59The shape of the garden therefore is dominated by the ruins, hence all the steps.
03:06And since we've lived here, the trees around in the old churchyard have grown in height
03:13so we're a bit limited for light.
03:16The little gazebo you see behind me we put in last year and it catches the sun at coffee time from 11 and 1 o'clock.
03:24So it's a short place to sit with a cup of coffee in a newspaper or a book.
03:29And the border down there to the south faces east-west and we've put in some posts to give it some height and some ropes.
03:41And there are roses in particular along those to give the big border some shape.
03:47And that's the basis on which the garden is.
03:51The house is in the middle of the site which means one's constantly walking around in circles to get things.
03:57The shed is on the far side so it's very good for keeping fit and practicing on steps.
04:03.
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