Alan Titchmarsh has admitted that he sobbed when he had to say goodbye to his beloved garden after 23 years of looking after it.
The much-loved TV gardener, 76, said his eyes were "full of tears" as he said farewell to the grounds he has tended and cultivated for a quarter of a century as he moved out of his new house.
Titchmarsh said he would never love a garden as much as the beautiful countryside plot of land, but that the 'weighty' responsibility of its upkeep was becoming too much as he grows older. Speaking for the last time at his Georgian home, just before he moves house, Titchmarsh said that although he feels "fortysomething", it is time to leave before being forced out by circumstances beyond his control.
He admitted that he had cried over the loss of the picturesque garden, where his two daughters had grown up, and where he had cherished time with his grandchildren. Titchmarsh has previously said that he and his wife Alison have found a new modern property, set in one and a half acres, much smaller than his current home.
A Painful Parting
Titchmarsh and his wife put their home in Holybourne, near Alton, Hants, on the market in September for £3.95 million. The couple bought the Grade-II listed Georgian manor in 2002. The stunning property dates back to 1690, and Titchmarsh has carried out significant renovations.
"'Parting is such sweet sorrow,' wrote William Shakespeare. He's right about that, especially when the parting involves a garden you have created over almost a quarter of a century," Titchmarsh wrote in July's BBC Gardener's World magazine.
"I would be a heartless soul if I did not feel that leaving the old place was a wrench - the garden more than the house, though our home was as pretty as a picture: Georgian and looking like a dolls' house from the front - almost as if you could open it on its hinges and peer inside."
"I designed [the garden] bit by bit - formal close to the house and woollier in the outer reaches. A rill, a meadow, a copse, a wildlife pond - all were created over the years and all of them delighted us season by season."
"And now I am saying farewell, as the sun beams down on the clouds of the white-blossomed cherry trees and glistens on the ripples created by the fish that came unbidden to the pond."
"It was Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who reminded us that grief is the price we pay for love. I cannot 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. But I will recover. The new garden will become my sanctuary. But, oh, I shall miss my garden on the Downs, and the cowslips and the cherry blossom and the rill and the old-fashioned roses."
"Goodbye, my dear old garden. Here's to your bright and glorious future."
The Burden of Upkeep
He said that although he has had help to maintain his previous garden, managing a workforce, "however small and however reliable, is burdensome".
Talking about why he had to move, Titchmarsh said: "Then there is 'the age thing'. There is no doubt I am in denial."
"I think of myself as 40-something. While I might be hale and hearty at the moment, I cannot count on such good fortune indefinitely. It's time to leave while I have the choice, rather than being forced out by circumstances beyond my control."
"Right now I have the energy and the enthusiasm to embark on another garden: smaller, at around an acre and a half."
"I'll have help to get it started - digging new beds, erecting a greenhouse and suchlike, but if push comes to shove later on, I will be able to manage it on my own."
In January of this year, Titchmarsh let the Gardeners World cameras into his garden which he described then as "20 odd years in the making".
In the video on YouTube he explained: "I did say to my wife and daughters, okay, this one's for us, I can do here exactly what I want to do, lay it out how I want to grow the plants I want to grow for me, and that's exactly what I've done, but gardens are for sharing, so it is nice to share it with family and friends, and it's lovely today to share it with you, not to show off, but to share the passion, the joy, and the spiritual uplift that plants and flowers can give all of us."
"I don't believe in legacies in gardening, except when you plant a tree, you hope it's going to be there for a good long time after you've gone. But if by having a garden like this I can inspire my own family and my grandchildren with the love of the great outdoors and the love of things that grow and the love of beauty, then this garden and me, I've done my bit."
