The radio personality has developed the exquisite gardens at East Ruston Old Vicarage in Norfolk with his husband Graham Robeson
I was born into a farming family and we grew our own food. My grandmother had a lovely tradition where she gave each of her grandchildren a plant from her garden when they got their own home. I still have the peony she gave me; it’s not of great merit, but it has lots of sentimental value.
I started out in television and then became an antiques dealer. I gave it up when my partner Graham and I bought extra land at East Ruston Old Vicarage. I remember we walked across this vast expanse in the middle of winter. We looked at each other and said: “What the hell are we going to do with all this? Where do we start?”
We found an Ordnance Survey map from the 1880s that revealed all the field boundaries, and we decided to reinstate the shelterbelts – not just for wildlife but for ourselves because we knew we couldn’t make a garden in such an open landscape.
The wildlife impact has been tremendous. We spotted a wonderful family of sparrowhawks the other day! We try to be as organic as possible and we don’t use any horrible sprays. The garden is now a refuge for humans and animals alike in what is an increasingly hostile world.
We were one of the first six gardens
