Barnsdale Gardens, on an eight-acre site in Rutland, were for many years the home of BBC Gardeners' World. Before Monty's Longmedow, Berryfields or even Alan's Barleywood, Geoff Hamilton presented the show here from 1983, moving up from a smaller site. Made up of 38 individual gardens, the site sought to educate and inspire visitors, sharing its organic and peat-free principles, as it still does today.
"Geoff decided to go peat-free 30 years ago," explains his son Nick Hamilton, who has been running the garden since his father passed away 27 years ago. "He was far ahead of his time and understood the problem with the decimation of peat bogs. He promoted it vigorously without being rude to people."
The garden is also organic, and has been since Geoff's time, "He was the first person on TV talking about organic gardening... He would always mention the organic way of doing it first, so it was forefront in the viewer's mind." But this wasn't always popular, Nick points out: "He upset an awful lot of people when he decided to garden this way, because the pesticide industry was so massive. But he realised this was the way we needed to go."
For Nick, growing in harmony with nature is still hugely important. Over the years he has seen that those who shared his father's principles are having their concerns and values better recognised. "King Charles is a prime example," he tells us, "When he was a young man, the papers absolutely ridiculed him for the environmental things he said, but roll on 40 years and they suddenly realised he was absolutely right."
Growing and evolving
This story is from the June 2023 edition of BBC Gardeners World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2023 edition of BBC Gardeners World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
We love June
We're cruising towards midsummer: this is a month full of love and abundance. Wherever you look there will be something in your garden that lifts the spirits and makes you glad to be alive. We have colour to cheer us, we have leaves that still have the bounce and freshness of small puppies, we have the first berries fattening up, there are birds frantically parenting very demanding broods of chicks, the bees are all over the place, it's prime barbecue and picnic season, and we have lawns as lush and green as billiard tables. What a month to fall in love.
Your wildlife month
The female will usually lay one clutch of up to eight eggs
An edible garden in pots
Join Lucy Bellamy in creating an edible container garden for all seasons, as she harvests what's ripe now and starts later-season crops
Garden craft with kids
Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Using a colour theme is an easy way to give any garden a strong, unified character - Nick Bailey shows you how
Indoor plants, outdoor treats
Break the rules and give your house plants a summer holiday, with Michael Perry's mixed pot display ideas
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
The first few weeks of summer are a good time to get spring-flowering plants in shape. Follow Frances' guide for best results
Gardening for wellbeing
As the pressures of modern living bear down, our outside spaces can provide soothing respite for our minds and bodies, says Arit Anderson
Your greenhouse guide to A fruitful summer
Get the best from your greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops this summer, with these tried and trusted growing tips from Adam Frost
Stars of the show
Agapanthus is the perfect midsummer plant, flowering with spectacular blooms from June onwards and, as Monty explains, it loves to grow in a pot