My grandfather's allotment was A PLACE OF MAGIC'

Alan Titchmarsh remembers taking his first steps into the natural world

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I treasure this photograph of me with my grandfather: it brings back my very first memories of being in nature, engulfed by things that grow. It was taken in 1950 - I was around a year old, and we were on his allotment, down by the river in Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales. I have vivid memories of being there as a child, not least because I was captivated by the magic of the place, and the array of plants he grew. You can see the sweet peas climbing up the beanpoles, and there are Cadbury's cocoa tin lids hanging from bits of string to frighten the sparrows off.

I remember he had the classiest support for his blackberry bush for miles a brass bedstead. This was five years after the war had finished, and my grandparents must have decided to go for a more modern headboard. They'd put the old one to good use, and I can still see those lovely shiny brass knobs sticking out among the blackberries.