Alan Titchmarsh has admitted he struggles to look at photos of his beloved old garden after leaving behind his farmhouse and garden of more than 20 years over fears he would be “forced out” of the sprawling home.
The former Gardeners’ World host, 77, recently said he was “full of tears” about downsizing to a single-storey bungalow in Surrey after selling their £3.5 million Grade II listed Hampshire home with its four and a half acre garden. The Love Your Weekend presenter and his wife Alison left their estate partly due to fears he wouldn’t be able to maintain the huge garden as he got older, with Titchmarsh admitting he was “in denial” about his health.
Struggling to look back
Titchmarsh, who was made a CBE for services to horticulture and to charity, has now confessed that he struggles to look at photos of his old garden. The gardening legend shared his frustration over having thousands of photos on his camera roll, writing in his latest Gardeners’ World column: “If only I had the time to put the photos into sections: ‘friends,’ ‘family,’ ‘holidays,’ and ‘the garden’.”
He went on: “Ah yes, the garden. I am still at the stage of not really wanting to look at snaps of our last garden. I will, one day. And I’ll be glad that I took photos of its development. Now, with the brand-new garden, I am reminding myself of the importance of snapping away at areas that are, as yet, unremarkable.”
He wrote: “Oh yes, there is nothing more encouraging, when your garden is beginning to look like something, than going back and reminding yourself of just how awful it was when you started.”
Autumn reflections and new beginnings
Titchmarsh also shared his melancholy over the approaching autumn and winter and urged readers to add “late summer bloomer” bedding plants to their gardens now to increase the season of interest. He said taking photos of their efforts afterwards “would mean that that when the nights draw in and it’s dark at half past four, and the shortening days are beginning to make you feel wistful for the times when you could stay outdoors until ten and the sky was still not quite dark, you can scroll through the snaps on your phone and remind yourself of just how lovely it all was in that one brief shining moment of horticultural Camelot”.
In June, the garden designer revealed he and Alison were moving out of their vast farmhouse while “they had the choice, rather than being forced out” further down the line due to health reasons. “I cannot ever imagine loving a garden as much as the one I am leaving, which has seen my children grow up and echoed to the sounds of grandchildren... and now that I come to write these words I freely confess that my eyes are full of tears,” he penned at the time.
No plans to retire
The Ground Force star revealed his new garden is significantly smaller at an acre and a half. Titchmarsh initially listed his family house, which he moved into in 2002, for £3.95 million before reducing it to £3.5 million. His new property cost £2.6 million.
The presenter, who currently hosts Love Your Garden on ITV, admitted he and Alison aren’t ready to slow down despite downsizing. He told The Times that their plan to take Mondays and Fridays off "is not really working" and added that he has no desire to retire because he does a job that people retire to spend more time doing.
Discussing bidding farewell to his garden, he told the outlet: "I love that garden more than I've loved anything I've ever made. I've given it a quarter of a century of love and care. But when we hand over the key and close the gate, I'm not looking back. I can't."
He said the move from Hampshire has been "an enormous wrench" and added: "It's a pretty big number and in another 10 years' time I probably would have found where we were too much for one man. Four and a half acres of busy garden - and yes, I had help but help costs money."
