Days of change and leaving the BBC

I've been feeling slightly discombobulated for the past few weeks.

I'm on annual leave, yet I'm not on holiday. I'm not relaxing in the sun or even having a few days away here in the UK.

Also, when I finish my annual leave, I won't be going back to work. I will officially leave the BBC on 2nd January, but I've already had my last day in the newsroom.

After twenty years of working at the BBC as a journalist, it seems strange but exciting.

I joined BBC Radio Leicester as a freelancer for two weeks initially but never left. Before then, I had worked on a cruise ship sailing around the world for a year, been to university, worked in PR, and worked at the BBC in Bristol as a reference librarian. 

I've loved it all, but being a journalist in the newsroom in a busy local radio station has been great. I’ve always been nosy you see, which drove my mother mad when I was a child. I was always asking questions. I've never stopped, and being able to find great stories and contacts and being paid for it has been amazing. 

It’s been a memorable twenty years in many ways. Although I’ve been based in Leicestershire, I’ve also travelled to Belgium, Ukraine and the Gambia working on stories I will never forget.

I've also made features for Radio 4, for 'Word of Mouth' and 'You and Yours', and occasionally for 6 Music back in the day, and my work has been featured on Pick of the Week quite a few times over the years.

Being a journalist in local radio is so rewarding, because you meet people at extraordinary times in their lives, as they share a special achievement, a harrowing story that needs to be told, or a wrong which needs to be righted. It's a privilege to help them tell their story, even though I've sobbed my socks off at times.

I've loved finding stories that no one else had, and I always say that everyone has a story, and it's often not a story you expect.

Of course, as a journalist, you also get to do things that you wouldn't necessarily expect to do. Such as driving a World War II tank,

Do have a listen... I nearly lost control of the tank at one stage.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtdf-7Bkvg0

I've also flown in an air ambulance helicopter and interviewed some of my favourite celebrities. Each day has been different and surprising, one day being sent to interview a team of Olympic sportsmen, the next going into a prison to interview people who've been locked up for a long time, or another day being spattered with paint whilst reporting live at the Hindu festival of Holi...

I've also enjoyed presenting gardening and history programmes on numerous occasions. One of my favourites has been BBC Radio Leicester's Down to Earth, very much like Gardeners' Question Time on Radio 4. I loved careering around Leicestershire and Rutland chairing recordings with a much-loved panel of gardening experts.

I was also lucky enough to be a part of the biggest historical story of this century. Obviously, I didn't dig up Richard III personally, but I got to know the team who did, very well! The memories of reporting on and having a grandstand view of the finding of The King in a Leicester car park and his subsequent burial in Leicester Cathedral will always stay with me.

I've enjoyed working with so many talented people at BBC Radio Leicester too. The laughs, the larks, the banter with colleagues and friends who I know I will miss, but shall still see socially when we are allowed. I've so many happy, funny and brilliant memories of my mad, marvellous work family.

Still, I'm looking forward to some new adventures as a freelancer. I shall continue giving talks, there's talk of a few lectures and voice-overs, and I'm going to continue to blog, and to write and to travel. Who knows what I'll get up to?

There will be more time for gardening though, both at home and on my allotment. Most of all, there will be lots of time spent having fun with my three gorgeous grandchildren. Jasper, Clementine and Raffy have all been born during the last twenty months. 

I can't wait, but in the meantime, goodbye to the BBC. I've adored being part of such a brilliant broadcasting corporation ....the best in the world. 

. 

A day at Sulby Gardens

 



A new garden to explore is always a joy isn't it? A weekend wander around a garden with cake and coffee at the end of a visit is a pleasure for so many of us.

 

To get a chance for a private visit to a garden with two friends who happen to be gardening experts, and enjoy a ramble around with the owners, is even more of a treat.

 

That's why I loved going to Sulby Gardens, to record a programme for BBC Radio Leicester's gardening programme, "Down to Earth" doing just that. Derek Cox and Josie Hutchinson , from the programme's panel of experts were with me.

 

Tucked just inside the Northamptonshire side of the border with Leicestershire, Sulby Gardens consists of twelve acres of formal gardens, kitchen gardens, orchards, a wood and even an ice house.

 

 

 

 

Alison has lived here since 1976. She and her husband Chris were fired with enthusiasm after reading John Seymour's 'The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency' and were inspired to buy a walled garden and live in the Head Gardener's Cottage there.

 

There were glasshouses and old storerooms which still bear the pencilled notes on the doors detailing how many fruits and carrots were picked in the early 1900's.

 

 

 

 

Part of the old apple store is now a conservatory where expertly trained (according to Derek) grapes festoon the ceiling.

 

 

There's a rather large glasshouse from 1904, which was the original carnation house.



 A place to sit out of the rain, looking down to part of the kitchen garden

Alison's husband Chris died nine years ago at the age of sixty. However he's left quite a legacy and they both have amassed a wonderful collection of sixty three varieties of apple trees .

There's a certain romance to the names of the old and new varieties of apples grown ...and there's also a dozen varieties of pear trees .We tasted two or three varieties as we munched our way around the kitchen garden and then found ten varieties of plum trees on the verge of ripeness.

Bill Barker has been the Garden Manager here for twenty years or so, and he too has played an important role in the development of the garden, especially since Chris's death. In fact Alison says he's an important reason why she has been able to stay here - she simply couldn't have done it on her own.

On the right hand side of the walled garden, glass houses previously abutted the walls for a couple of hundred yards or so.
.

And that's why Sulby Gardens is so interesting...because the gardens belonged to a minor stately home built in 1792 and designed by Sir John Sloane. Echoes of its gardening past are all around, but the house itself is no more. It was demolished in the early 1950's .

We winced and shuddered as we heard this - having seen photographs, it was a beautiful building. Yet we were able to admire what remained of the more formal area of gardens

It's ironic, because so many owners of old houses have, over the years, sold parcels of their estates or gardens for housing or development. Alison and Chris did the exact opposite, they managed to buy extra land to increase their garden, to build a wood and seven ponds.

 With the wood, they inherited an ice house. I was dying to see this...Josie walked over it without knowing at first!

 

This dates from the late eighteenth century and is listed.







 We all trooped down the stairs and inside in single file, the temperature immediately dropping as we did so. No torches, but fortunately I had my trusty iphone to light our way



This was where tons of ice, were hacked from the stream running through  the gardens by the gardeners, and thrown into the hole. Meat, game and fish, butter and other foods were kept here on the ice until needed for the table.

By now, we had spent two hours wandering around the gardens, enjoying the views and the plantings. We'd also admired the way that Alison, Chris and Bill have enhanced the gardens over the years and developed flower meadows and wildlife habitats for mammals, insects and birds.

By now, the drizzle and wind had died down and we were able to relax on a garden bench in the sunshine.

Left to right...Bill Barker, Josie Hutchinson, Derek Cox, me and Alison Lowe





Such a lovely day and such an interesting garden, with so much to see . You can hear the programme we recorded by clicking this link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05gydwf

You can also see the gardens for yourself as they are open on Thursday 12th October from 1 pm to 4pm and again on  Friday 13th October from 11am until 4pm...

Alison and Bill will be around, and you've got the chance to buy some bottles of fresh apple juice too, which is pressed and bottled by Bill, but only sold to garden visitors at open days for the National Garden Scheme. There's plenty of apple cakes to taste too!

Here's just three of the varieties, and Sunset, the bottle I have tasted is absolutely delicious and addictive.

Sulby is worth a visit any time of year though and opens regularly....so do check with the Northamptonshire branch of the National Garden Scheme to find out next year's dates. You will be so pleased you did!
 

Two very different days at Easton Walled Gardens

Once upon a time, there was a large country house at Easton in Lincolnshire. Owned by the Cholmeley family since 1592, fourteen generations of Cholmeleys have lived here, but the estate has changed radically since the 1950's.

The gatehouse and stables are some of the very few buildings which survived.

The once productive and beautiful four hundred year old gardens had also suffered and by the time Lady Ursula Cholmeley and her husband Fred came to live here, the gardens were, to quote Ursula, "in freefall"

In a remarkable turn around, in 2001, Ursula began to revive the gardens and it's been fifteen years of hard and back breaking work. Easton Walled Gardens is now enjoying a renaissance which members of the public can see for themselves.

I've visited the gardens twice now in the last couple of weeks, and they've cast quite a spell over me.

I was here to record an edition of Down to Earth for BBC Radio Leicester , which is local radio's longest running gardening programme. Some programmes are like a Gardeners Question Time format where a panel of experts go to locations all over the county .Sometimes we have phone ins, and in the summer we go out and visit nearby gardens of interest both large and small.

For this edition,Derek Cox, a veteran nurseryman and garden landscaper, and Karen Gimson, a garden designer and I were taken on a personal tour of the gardens by Ursula, on the left of the photo below..

As you enter the walled garden, you're immediately seduced by the vivid colours in the Pickery, a cutting garden and intoxicated by the scent of the sweet pea collection. Ursula is growing over a hundred varieties .

We wandered through the Pickery into a series of small garden rooms, through the viburnum hedge and the yellow acquilegas which I haven't seen before . 



to charming little corners





and through to the alpine garden



But it's when you suddenly see the true scale of the mediaeval gardens, that there's a real "Wow" moment....three acres surrounded by the walls of the Tudor enclosures. Yew pyramids edge the steps leading you down to the bridge across the small river - it's such a glorious sight that for the first time I actually lost the power of speech for a few moments.



 All I could say was " Wow"



Ursula led us through the vegetable garden (such precision planting of lettuce by gardener Nick), with more sweet peas growing up hazel, past the asparagus bed and the runner beans

 to a lovely little spot for a ponder. And that's what I like too, the thoughtful positioning of seats and benches dotted around.

We wandered down the valley and looked at the eighty foot borders just past the river

before heading back up the hill to the proud turrets and what remains of the original house.

But there's still more to see...and although we didn't mention this on air, (we ran out of time) I was rather taken with the White Space garden

Karen Gimson, Derek Cox and I were most impressed by the gardens here...and it was a privilege to be there when the gardens were closed, to meander around so informally with Ursula Cholmeley and hear how her dream became reality.

Last week, we all returned to the gardens for a very different kind of day. Members of the Garden Media Guild were there in force for a Midsummer lunch and a tour. These were professionals...you could tell by the size of their equipment. Huge lenses ....all the better to take the perfect photos with my dear. I hid my trusty I phone out of sight .Prosecco and chatting with like minded people who enjoy nothing better than being in a garden and talking about it was great fun.

After a delicious lunch in the courtyard, it was time to hear Ursula talk about her vision for the gardens and how she has transformed them.

Matthew Wilson was also there, a garden designer from Rutland, to talk of his Chelsea journey this year - he was awarded the People's Choice garden..Quite rightly so...



 We also heard about the exciting plans for Bridgewater, the new garden acquired by the Royal Horticultural Society, from Guy Barter, the society's Chief Horticultural Advisor. These gardens belonged to New Worsely Hall, a Victorian estate just seven miles from the city centre of Manchester, and like at Easton, the house was demolished after World War II. I 'd love to see this garden as it is now.



Another talk, this time from Laura Garnett who works for Perennial, the charity supporting people working in horticulture from gardeners, to groundsmen and tree surgeons. They help 1,200 people a year.

Once the talks were over, it was good to talk to two of the three gardeners. Stephen, the head gardener of the left has been working  here since the second season...he's been involved in years of  backbreaking work, but says it's remarkable what has been achieved.

All in all, a perfectly lovely day.


If you'd like to hear  Ursula Chomeley taking  Derek Cox, Karen Gimson and I on a tour of these wonderful gardens at Easton, then click here - the programme is available for the next three weeks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03xrp8y#play


And if you'd like to see Ursula  who's on the panel of a Quiz the Gardeners Event on 5 July in Fotheringhay then contact friendsoffc.btinternet.com to say you are coming, or turn up on the door.

It's being held to raise money for the church in Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire, the birthplace of King Richard III. Bunny Guiness, gardener  designer and author  is also on the panel as well as writer and broadcaster Nigel Colborn. I'll be introducing them, and their quiz master Lord de Ramsey. It should be a really informative and fun evening. Tickets cost £12 to include a drink and a few canapés.It starts at 7pm. Why not join us?

Days of gardening questions

I've always liked listening to Down to Earth on BBC Radio Leicester. It's the longest running gardening programme on local radio and has been broadcast every week for over 45 years, and that's no mean achievement.

Geoff Amos chaired the programme for many years, and Dave Andrews has been the popular presenter for the last decade. But this year, I've had a chance to present this programme too while Dave was away on holiday, and had some extra time off. It's been wonderful fun, and great to meet so many BBC Radio Leicester listeners out and about in the county.

Here's one programme in Huncote we made earlier this summer...on the panel left to right are :Chris Gutteridge, a garden designer who won a silver gilt medal at Chelsea last year; Ray Coombes, who is the most knowledgeable man I've ever met when it comes to seeds and vegetables and Josie Hutchinson, who is a former lecturer at Brooksby College and so warm and chatty.

 

 



They are just a few of the panelists who turn each week to either record programmes at churches, community centres, village halls and pubs, or to appear in the studio for a live phone in.

 

They're wonderful, all of them...Derek Cox is a former nurseryman who has been appearing on the programme for about 46 years, and still has a wicked glint in his eye as he teases other members of the panel, the audiences and me. John Smith owns a fuschia nursery and has also been on the panel for over 40 years, and the very helpful Mike Salotti from Brooksby Hall is another regular.

 

The two youngest on the panel are nursery owner Helen Osborne who has the most raucous laugh and a great sense of humour, and Ady Dayman, all round good egg and extremely talented cheeky chappie.

Another great stalwart of the programme is the sound engineer Maclolm Pugh who's been in charge of recording the outside broadcasts for over 30 years.

 

 

 

So as you might guess, I've had such fun presenting these programmes and learning so much about gardening from them all.

But there's another gardening programme which I love to listen to and that's Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time.

The programme is recorded each week in a different location, and about ten days ago, the team came to the University of Leicester . Eric Robson was in firm command in the chair,  Anne Swithinbank and  Bob Flowerdew were on the panel with Matt Biggs who received a large cheer from the crowd - he grew up in Leicester!)

 I went to watch with Ady Dayman...we were very interested to see how the programme was put together, and sat on the back row like naughty schoolchildren. Well, there was nowhere else for us to go, the hall was packed.

We noticed that as well as Eric chairing the programme with his posh script, there were two sound engineers and a producer....we only have one engineer, and I'm afraid I have to produce myself.

 

 

Apart from staffing, in essence, it's exactly the same as Down to Earth...those who ask questions are placed on the front row, they ask what they want to know - "Could the panel please tell me why...." and all the panel  seem to have different ideas on way to deal with a query or a problem.  Many of the questions cover similar topics to those in Down to Earth, such as squirrels in gardens and getting rid of slugs and snails , which seem to have been popular this year!

 

Anne Swithinbank radiates calm, Matt made everyone laugh and Bob Flowerdew became quite poetic about a certain plant..."When gorse is out of flower, love is out of fashion."

 

 

All in all, an enjoyable evening, especially afterwards when Matt Biggs, Ady Dayman and I went for a pint. If we're being pedantic, they had pints , I drank a mojito and we all had a great chat about gardening, broadcasting and more besides.

 



 

 





 

 

Today's track is an old favourite....beautifully paced, it's off the seminal album by Neil Young, "After the Goldrush."

 

 I wonder where my old vinyl copy went to? Still, the track has a very appropriate title which is "Tell me why"



 

 

 

 

 

Summer Sundae days......

It's still festival season here in the UK...every weekend there is a music festival somewhere... a chance to relive your youth, listen to some great music and chill out with friends. Oh and dodge the rain.....it's been that kind of summer.

Over the years I've been to many, but there's one particular festival in August that I go to without fail. It's called Summer Sundae and it's held in the grounds of the rather lovely DeMontfort Hall here in Leicester.

The whole weekend passes in a smiley faced blur of contentment.




The concert hall   holds 2,400, there's a big outdoor stage too plus two stages in marquees and an outdoor bandstand. Over the years, artists such as Joan Baez, Steve Earle, Bon Iver, Macey Gray, Keane, Seasick Steve, Mumford and Sons, Noah and the Whale to name but a few have played at the festival. Summer Sundae also showcases the wealth of local talented bands and acts here in Leicestershire such as By the Rivers, Mahalia, Park Bench Society, Charlee Drew, Kyte, and many others..

This year, a different headliner for each day...Friday it was Katy B, Saturday ..Ocean Colour Scene
and Public Image for Sunday.There were a hundred and three other acts...reggae, ska, folk, rock, electronica, indie, you name it, we heard it.

Bands flew in from all over the world...Willie Mason and the Bower Birds from the USA, Dan Mangan from Canada, and the band to travel the furthest were the wonderful Black Seeds from New Zealand.

There's a lovely feel to the festival....it's very popular with families., with lots of activities for children. This year's hits were a safari and Monsieur Mouse's Puppet Theatre and there's also lots of oddities to get caught up in and watch including this lepoard....

Nichola Wood is a sand sculptor.....it's amazing what she can do with five tons of sand!

What I love about Summer Sundae is that it's a festival in a city, on a site that's not too big, where you don't have to trudge miles from stage to stage, where there's always somewhere to hide from the rain and there's flushing toilets too. Now that's what I call heaven at a festival!

And I love the way the atmosphere changes as night falls.....the little ones are tucked up in tents or at home..and everything changes. And after the stages have closed, there's always a silent disco or the comedy tent for even more entertainment.

That's not to say that I just sit around on the grass watching my favourite bands by day, or party all night....

I may snatch a moment doing just that(well 60 minutes actuually on Sunday out of a thirteen and a half hour day).....but primarily I'm there to work. And it was a busy three days ...

....the sun shone...in fact it was very hot.....and I was there to record a documentary on the festival, and broadcast live.. Not to just feature the bands...but rather the whole feel of the festival ,with stories from the back room staff, and the audience too.


Simon Fowler from Ocean Colour Scene and me with my ancient...but trusted Marantz!

If you'd like to listen,  you can do until next Monday morning

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xpry5

What's your favourite music festival?

The track for today? It's from the Black Seeds.....I first heard their music in Australia four years ago...and I finally saw them at Summer Sundae! Lovely guys...and you can hear their music on the documentary too. This is "So True"...one of my favourites...and I was standing just behind the person who filmed this....