Apley Walled Garden on BBC Midlands Today
Here I am in August 2012 amongst the ragwort with sons of the last 2 head gardeners – Michael Coombes & Geoff Phillips
August 2015 – just 3 yrs later, here are the gardens back in production & looking lovely too
BBC Midlands Today, Gavin being interviewed
I got a call yesterday morning from the BBC saying they’d like to follow up on their Aug 2012 visit, 6 months before we’d even met Head Gardener Phil Allen. So Gavin & I have spent most of today with Phil, the presenter Laura May McMullan & cameraman Nigel Moody in Apley Walled Garden, producing a short piece which was shown at lunchtime & supper time on BBC Midlands Today.
Click HERE to watch it again (it only stays online for 24hrs). It starts at 22mins41 & ends at 25mins08.
Our owe our huge congratulations & thanks to Phil of course who is the one who gets the actual gardening done, achieving the remarkable transformation from dereliction to high production in such a short space of time. We of course send huge thanks to all our volunteers who’ve helped so much along the way.
I’m just finalising a talk for a womens’ group next week who asked me about a year ago to speak about how my life has changed since becoming Lady Hamilton. It was only when I really got down to answering the question that I came up with some answers with which I surprised myself. More on that next week. Whilst approaching the topic, I realised how quickly in the past decade (Gavin’s father died in Sept 2006, so it’s nearly 10 yrs since we moved to Shropshire) working habits have changed, not just for me, but for everyone.
Yesterday was a good example – I was holding a pair of ponies at a show jumping competition when the BBC called. I explained ‘I was away from my desk’ & as soon as I was back, I’d send over what they needed – without giving a full explanation of exactly where I was. Just then, a pony behind me whinnied loudly, totally giving the game away. It’s a very good example of modern working life – where family commitments & work have to fit in around each other. It means the children are very in touch with my work life & some things have to be done at very odd times of day !
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