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Whilst I was away in Cornwall I saw a tweet about a garden not too far from where I live and the story that it was to be dug up and dismantled. Once, flooded fields and overgrown weeds surrounded Ochran Mill just outside Abergavenny but over ten years ago Elaine and David Rolfe moved in and transformed the land. Nature was tamed, the grass was cut to define new borders and the planting began. It didn’t take the couple long before they had created a verdant, lush space packed with trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials. The garden featured on Gardener’s World and they opened every year for the NGS.
Then David became very sick and he discovered he was terminally ill. Devastating news for the family was compounded by the need to move from the home and garden they loved. But if all that wasn’t enough the land agents who own the property said the garden would have to be dismantled and returned to pasture as it would be off-putting to new tenants faced with maintaining it. If this didn’t happen then the private Llanover Estate initially said they would charge (although this is no longer the case) the Rolfes for the cost of making it more tenant friendly.
My raised beds which will no doubt be replaced with grass when we sell.
I wasn’t the only person the day the news broke to be incensed by the story. The gross insensitivity on the part of the landowners seemed quite incredible and how heartbreaking to have to take apart something you have so lovingly put together when you are going through such a dreadful time anyway. The story does also show the two sides of a supposed nation of gardeners. On the one hand you have a couple with more than just green fingers whose love for plants is obviously huge. Then you have those who see gardens as hard work, a hindrance and a chore.
I’ve lived in my fair share of rented places and if people are passing through it does make sense as a landlord to have gardens that don’t require a lot of maintenance. Our first home together was on an army base, the garden came with a scruffy, moss-ridden lawn and four of the scrawniest looking roses you’ll ever come across and that was it. Outdoor spaces were maintained under the threat of penalties when you ‘marched out’. That really was the term they gave to moving house (they didn’t make you literally march out the house though, fortunately). Accommodation on private estates in rural areas tend to be mid to long-term lets though. These aren’t commuter areas or military bases with people moving on after six months, it isn’t unusual for tenants to stay in estate properties for ten, fifteen or more years.
In 2010 the UK garden retail market was worth £4.6 billion and we think of ourselves as a nation of gardeners but what criteria make you a gardener? Does buying a ready-made hanging basket and watering it occasionally throughout the summer make you a gardener? If your garden only consists of lawn, does mowing it every week constitute gardening? What about filling your borders with bedding plants that you buy? You might plant them but they may need no more attention once in the ground, does that make you a gardener?
The idea that a beautiful garden is an encumbrance rather than an asset perhaps says more about the general attitude to gardening than statistics of how much is spent on gardening products. My own garden is smaller than the average, with no lawn because I wanted it to be full of plants. It isn’t high maintenance. In fact, without a lawn it’s actually pretty undemanding but I know when we come to sell that’s not what potential buyers will think. I’m already prepared for the conversation where I explain how easy it will be to take out the raised beds and lay some turf, just so they can replace low maintenance plants with a high maintenance lawn.
My front garden, once just scruffy grass.
Walk around most garden centres and it’s easy to see where the £4.6 billion is spent and a lot of it doesn’t seem to be on items with any real relevance to gardening. Outdoor living is the new gardening whether it’s admiring your meerkats or the bejewelled, oversized butterflies on stems plonked around the garden. A few plants that might attract some actual butterflies might be a better choice. I think, rather like my recent post on whether the grow your own revolution had died, there is a hard-core group of dedicated gardeners, people with a real passion for plants and wildlife and then there is a much more significant group on the peripheries. The success of the Alan Titchmarsh Love Your Garden programme on ITV has seemed to prove this point. Much more about make-overs than gardening, the instant effect seems to win out when faced with the actual growing of plants shown on Gardener’s World.
Maybe it shouldn’t surprise me then that the garden at Ochran Mill is to be uprooted. Many of the plants are going to good homes and Bristol Zoo is taking some of the more exotic and rare specimens but it’s sad that the beauty of the gardens and the hard work that went into them wasn’t appreciated.
I’d love to hear what you think defines a gardener.
wellywoman 
To me a gardener is a person who enjoys the art of gardening from compost and soil to seedlings and plant division in an effort to harvest beautiful flowers or delicious fruits and vegetables. Less lawn more plants!
I’m with you there, Judy. 🙂
I totally agree with your way of thinking, I have a horrible feeling that when we move on, half of the garden will be sold for a building plot. I think I would only consider myself a gardener since I have made the garden here, before that, I just kept tidy what we inherited with the house, which I don’t think would really qualify me as a gardener. Such a shame to read about Ochran Mill but I’m so glad that the plants have been saved.
That must be a sad thought Pauline. We used to live in a commuter town in Berkshire. There was a long street of beautiful large houses with really good-sized gardens. In the 3 years we were there they were all sold off and had blocks of flats built on them. Not only was the loss of such lovely gardens so sad but it completely changed the demographics of the area. From a sought after family area to young, single people who were commuting into London. This impacted on the schools and shops.
Thought provoking post; when I lived in the UK it was often said that having a well designed garden added 10% to the value of a property (maybe well designed needs defining). I think that it is still true, but families certainly want some lawn or play space. Living where I do, I think I can assure you that the English ARE gardeners at heart even if they only do the things you mentioned. Most people do at least want a garden. Christina
I have heard that about a well designed garden adding to the value. I think it might mean more the hard landscaping and the garden being neat and tidy though and less to do with the planting. I know most people want some lawn so that’s why we designed the garden so that the raised beds could be removed and replaced with turf. It would be sad to have to do it but I don’t want to be sentimental about the garden when we move. I know a few people who want a ‘garden’ but that consists of lawn and perhaps one tree that was there when they moved in. For me I’m not sure that constitutes a garden. A garden for me is about creating something beautiful to look at, be in and that is a habitat for wildlife. I think it’s about appreciating the space you have. We have friends who live in flats with young children and would desperately love somewhere to grow food but they can’t afford somewhere with a garden. It is frustrating to see so many gardens that aren’t appreciated when land is in such great demand. Sorry for the epic reply 😉
It did seem particularly cruel that Ochran Mill should be covered over, but I think I read that the couple had already left and that it has already become overgrown, which would make it quite a headache for the estate owners, I guess. It seems a shame, though, that they couldn’t wait to see if the next tenants might be interested in taking it over.
What is a gardener? Sliding scale on this definition, and I do think you can be a “bit of a gardener”. Full-blown, though, it’s got to be someone who grows plants by working with the soil (i.e. not just shoving in the bedding).
I agree it was probably quite a headache for the land agents. I think it was the way it was all handled that was so awful and insensitive. And the idea that it was all to be ripped out and gravelled over or returned to pasture. That all or nothing approach. Surely they could have left some of the planting. I do think it is a bit ironic that the big house to the estate holds gardening courses and a plant fair every year.
Really interesting to read the different ideas at what constitutes a gardener.
Liked your post a lot, it’s so sad to see a garden die-my sister-in-law concreted hers over because it was ‘UNTIDY’! Needless to say my untidy garden gives me hours of joy and pleasure-not to mention the sheer greediness when we eat what we grow! A true gardener can’t help themselves-put them in a high rise flat and they’ll grow something-even if its only flannel on a facecloth!
Thanks Jen. Oh dear how awful to see a garden concreted over. And I agree that gardening is an urge that can’t be resisted. When we didn’t have our own garden for years we would still grow things in the gardens of the rented houses we lived in. Our best crop of tomatoes were grown in pots on the sunny patio of one house. We had 15kg from 16 plants. I have such fond memories of that summer in that garden.
Duh! Meant to put grow cress on a facecloth!
That’s very sad for the people who have to leave. I planted bulbs in pots outside the last house I rented. Passing the other day I saw that the bulbs were coming up again, they looked a little uncared for, but I remembered how happy they made me just turning the key in the door and looking down and seeing them there.
As to what constitutes a gardener, well we’re as various a bunch as a wild flower meadow. Veg gardeners, flower gardeners, fruit gardeners, I think that as long as you care about the thing you’re growing you’re a gardener.
In most of the gardens of the rented houses we have lived in the garden was in a better state when we left than when we moved. If we had free bulb offers we would get them and plant them up. At the last place our landlord even gave us some money to buy some plants for the front garden. We’ve been past since and it’s lovely to see the plants still growing 7 years on.
I completely agree. You get a lovely feeling from having created something.
I know that feeling too but I guess not everyone shares it.
Very interesting debate as to what makes a gardener! I would say perhaps that anyone who has planted a perennial is definitely a gardener. That’s not to say others don’t qualify.
I think it is passion that says whether you’re a gardener or not. I’d argue someone who a large property and simply mows the lawn and occasionally pulls weeds is not a ‘gardener’. However I’d argue that an elderly person in a nursing home with a small courtyard garden made up of carefully and lovingly tended pots IS a ‘gardener’.
I think gardeners tend to see gardening as inspirational/relaxing/invigorating/exciting and something they simply can’t be without, even if it is simply tending window boxes. However someone who sees mowing the law or watering a pot as purely a chore is definitely not a gardener in my opinion.
I own a fairly big (by inner city standards) back garden – about 900sqm. It is a combination of raised veg beds, sweeping lawn and deep borders filled to the brim. There’s also many pots of things from herbs to bulbs to Acers and cactus. I can tell always tell a gardener from a non gardener when they come to visit. The gardener says (along the lines of): “wow, look at those dahlias” or “show me what you’re growing in the veg garden”. The non gardener gives themselves away by comments along the lines of: “how long does it take to manage all THAT?!”
Hi Danielle, Your last comment really struck a chord with me. That is so true and I have experienced that too. I agree the size of your growing space has little to do with it, it’s more what you do with it that counts. I think you have to be actively engaged in the process too.
I think a true gardener is someone who loves to be out there weeding and pruning and sowing and planting knowing the pleasure it will bring when it’s at its peak- usually mid-summer. And as Jen Wright says they would be making a garden glorious whatever the size of the plot. But probably one wouldn’t take on a huge garden that required a few gardeners unless one was totally obsessed and could afford the help.
It has been so interesting to read people’s ideas about what makes a gardener. I agree large gardens can be demanding on time and whilst I may dream of acres I realise that managing it would be almost a full time job. Although the couple in the post had 8 children between them and were foster carers. It really is incredible what they achieved there with so many commitments and no outside help.
Hmm – made me so sad to read about Ochran Mill, and wondered if the tenancy agreement had actually said anything about the garden in the first place. The discussion about what makes a gardener shows that it can mean different things to different people. I have realised recently that I probably enjoy creating my garden more than the actual gardening, and will no doubt get itchy fingers if I run out of creative ideas, but the physical gardening required as part of the creation and maintenance is of necessity part of the creation itself and brings its own rewards of the spiritual connection with the earth and nature. Gosh, that’s a bit of a ramble – sorry!
I wondered about that too. In all the rented places we’ve lived the agreement has only ever said about keeping the garden tidy. Apart from the army where you could do what you liked but it had to be returned to the state it was in when you took on the garden which is why nobody ever did anything with the gardens. I would have thought estate lets because they tend to be for much longer periods of time would have something in them. I guess if they didn’t they probably will now. Loved reading your thoughts about being a gardener. I like the bit about the connection with the earth and nature. 🙂
How sad that the garden at Ochran Mill had to be dismantled, especially when the family were going through such trauma as it was without this adding to it. As to what defines a gardener, I think it has to be someone who actually enjoys gardening. I think you can tell those who keep a nice garden but don’t enjoy it, there just isn’t any flair there. A true gardener experiments with plants, and they create. I’m sure when you do eventually move, you’ll take lots of your plants with you, won’t you?
Definitely, we’ll probably need a van just for the plants. 🙂
A thoughtful, and heartfelt, post and interesting comments. It’s often said that we’re a nation of gardeners but I do feel at times that perhaps nowadays that isn’t strictly true. Many people want nice gardens but simply aren’t prepared to put in the time and effort to make them so.
The attitude, and lack of compassion, by the agents and owners was appalling, but sadly all too typical. I think that anyone living in a leased property should check beforehand as they may end up wasting a lot of time and money if they don’t.
As to what defines a gardener, for me it’s as Cathy says that connection with the earth and nature. xx
What a really good post. I’d heard through twitter about the garden at Ochran Mill and felt what a terrible shame it is but it does get you thinking about what will happen to your own garden if you move. In my previous house I made a small cottage garden which I loved and actually I think it helped sell the house. Revisiting the area to see some of my old neighbours and meeting them, they asked about certain plants and how to maintain it. But equally the people moving in could have paved it over. But what could I do, everyone has their own ideas of what constitutes a garden.
I think what makes a gardener is someone who actually enjoys the process of creating or maintaining a garden. Ok you don’t have to like the actual lawn mowing or weeding (though I actually do enjoy weeding!) but enjoy the satisfaction that you get from doing it. The pleasure that you get from planting a new plant or growing one from seed or cutting, for me its the actual process of gardening that I love and can’t imagine in the world not being able to ‘garden’.
Thanks Annie, I hope I won’t be too sentimental about my garden when we move. It will be up to the new owners to do with it what they want. I just think it is a pity some people would rather stare at concrete or block paving than plants. But each to their own.
I think if someone is interested in defining just what a gardener is, then they probably are one.(unless they are working on a dictionary!)
It seems such a waste, not only of time, effort and money, but also of passion, to just level an established garden for the sake of convenience.
I can see the land agent’s point of view to some degree but the idea of all or nothing seems odd to me. I’m just sure it could have all been dealt with in a much better way. Such a real pity.
A most thoughtful post WW. So sad to read about the fate of the garden at Ochran Mill. I hope that your colourful flowerbeds remain when you eventually leave your current property – who knows but a gardener may well move in 🙂 I think that the previous comments have come up with excellent definitions of a gardener ie passion and the connection with earth and nature. I also think that growing from seeds/cuttings and nurturing a plant to maturity and then keeping it alive should be part of that definition.
Thanks Anna. It would be nice if someone else wanted to take on the garden when we move but the way the housing market is I think people want to maximise sale potential and having some lawn would make sense to encourage families.
Compared to Denmark, where I’m from, or Switzerland, where I live, I would definitely say you are a nation of gardeners. Programmes like Gardeners’ World simply don’t exist here, most people are not interested in gardening. As an English friend said, people want a large house on a small property. And there they want a bit of lawn, a pond, terrace and a leylandii hedge 😉 – to me a gardener is somebody who likes getting stuck in, whether it’s on a balcony, allotment or one’s own garden. In the 80s I lived in China for a while and was always amazed to see how many people would have a pot or two in the most impossible places, but doing a bit of pottering, sorry, planting, tweaking a leaf here and there was really important. To me they were just as much gardeners as say me or Monty Don or whoever.
It’s interesting to hear a perspective from outside Britain and to hear how gardening is perceived in other countries. I certainly think Britain used to be more of a nation of gardeners than it is now. There are so many more demands on time and gardens of new houses are getting smaller and smaller. I agree it isn’t the size of the available growing space but what you do with it that counts. Leylandii hedges *shudders* 😉
What an interesting post, made me think! My garden is a small courtyard of pots but I get my real fix from the allotment where I can plan and plant to my hearts content!… Would love to inherit your garden though! WW!! 😄
Hi Carole, Thank you! It would be lovely to know that a gardener would take on the garden after we move so hopefully there will be someone out there who will appreciate it. I love my allotment too. There is something quite freeing about the plot. No design restrictions and the idea of productivity changes my perspective of how it should function. I love the contrast between the garden and my plot.
I don’t think I can add much to this discussion – I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone else’s comments though. Re Ochran Mill, I imagine the land agents have a duty to make money for the estate and employing someone to tend the garden until a new tenant is found would be financially negative. V pleased that they have taking the time to find new homes for the plants, where possible. That, to me, shows some semblance of caring. And a new tenant, if a gardener, can have a clean slate on which to put their own designs.
As to what defines a gardener? From my point of view, I have to agree with Flighty and Cathy. Anyone who has a nurturing attitude towards their plants, and revels in the beauty and miracle of the tiniest seed unfurling, finds the colour or texture of a particular plant heart-stopping… that’s your gardener, in spirit if not in body, sometimes!
Oops. I seem to have added without trying! C x
PS. Excellent post … again!
Hi Caro, thank you! I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments too. I can see the point of view of the land agent I just think they didn’t handle it very well. They backed down on charging the couple after the negative publicity but it is the couple who have had to find the new homes for the plants. Most of the estate houses don’t tend to have much in the way of gardens which is a real shame as they are really pretty cottages in such gorgeous locations. Still I suppose that’s what happens with tenanted properties. Bit ironic though that there is a gardening school at the estate’s big house. I love your ideas about what makes a gardener. I still get excited about seeing seeds germinate even though I’ve seen it so many times before. WW x
I read this earlier in the week but didn’t have time to comment. In the end your post has left me with much to say along similar lines that I’ll cover it in a blog post sometime if I can stop myself ranting. I’ll confine myself here to saying how lovely your front garden is and that I suspect that although I thought I had added value to our property by designing an attractive garden, now someone would immediately rip it out and cover it in concrete! Sad.
I’ll look forward to your post. I think I need to write a few less ranty posts over the coming weeks as it seems a bit of a theme with me at the moment. Maybe my posts are just reflecting my mood at the moment! 😉 Thank you, it’s always lovely to get a compliment about my garden. I think most people seem to want an expanse of grass for pets and children and then a hard landscaped area for eating and barbecues and that seems to be it. I think it’s sad but I guess we’re all different. When we were looking to buy we saw mainly uncared for gardens which was quite heartbreaking. There had been no attempt to create any ‘kerb appeal’.
How awful that those people had to dismantle their garden. Having recently sold our house the fact that we had an established garden certainly sell in a depressed property market. Maybe it’s different here in Ireland.
Bridget.
Hi Bridget, I still think a well cared for garden is an asset but then I’m coming at it as a garden lover. I’d love to find a house with established trees and shrubs in the garden. I wouldn’t touch somewhere that was all hard landscaping.
That should have read: the fact that we had an established garden certainly helped sell our place in a depressed property market.
I was amazed by this post – the treatment of the outgoing tenants had me totally furious; the fact that it was necessary to return a beautiful garden to a soggy field totally unbelievable. I had never ever heard of returning a garden to the condition in which it was taken on. It always seemed a courtesy to keep a garden as beautiful as possible if it belonged to someone else. We all have such different ways of looking at life.
As to what makes a gardener – well for me I love digging – hard! And weeding, and raising seeds, pruning – the lot (except mowing!) The end result isn’t always that brilliant but I live in constant hope and find magic just in being outside hands in the soil, listening to the bees and the leaves and the distant sea. Oh, and admiring other people’s gardens or plants in pots. I think the word love says it all really!
Hi Christine, It does seem such a pity to return a beautiful garden to a soggy field. I understand that the new tenants might not have had the same amount of time to devote to such a garden but it just seems a real shame. You sound like a proper gardener and I agree, after spending this afternoon in the sunshine in my garden, that there is nothing to beat it. WW
Hi Wellywoman! Such a sad tale 😦 I think anyone who tries to do their bit should be encouraged and seen as a gardener, right up to those who love it and don’t get out of it. Someone who just has space for a couple of window boxes but gets joy out of planting in them should be classed as a gardener as well as those with acres of land. Basically anyone who enjoys gardening, is a gardener in my book! The people who say they don’t have a garden when they clearly have space for pots and boxes and baskets are not gardeners, they’re definitely not interested. Maybe with a bit of encouragement they could get into it, take for instance Out Of My Shed’s community of gardeners growing everywhere and anywhere they can. Unfortunately there are those people who just don’t get into it and I feel sad for them. They don’t know what they’re missing. Your garden looks absolutely gorgeous by the way!!! More photo’s please! 🙂
Hi Anna, Thank you for the garden compliment. :)) I’ll post more photos this summer hopefully. I’ve been adding a few more plants and moving some about so hopefully it will look a bit better than it did last year. Both gardens were a bit neglected because of other commitments last year.
I love the idea of a community coming together because of gardening. Sometimes though it’s hard to get the enthusiasm and community support. It can be exhausting and I’m realising not everyone is as passionate as me or people like yourself.
Such a sad story. It is such a shame that people aren’t prepared to put much effort into gardening. Most people would love a beautiful garden, but as you have mentioned before, it is hard work. It seems that people would rather wander round shopping than putting time into actually creating something.
Hi CJ, it is a pity but I guess we all have different interests. It’s just as a gardener it is so sad to see plants uprooted.
That is so sad, brutally pragmatic and lacking imagination on part of agent. Funny how people think a garden with lots of plants automatically means lots of work. I know it can do, but I got rid of all the grass in my old garden and filled it with plants and a pond. The pond was a bit of work but the rest looked after itself, just like yours. But if it wasn’t for mil and fil living there now I would have ripped it all out and put down lawn before selling because that is what people expect. As to what makes a gardener, passion for growing things. Not necessarily from seed, but not instant. Has to be a relationship. I think.
Hi Janet, Thanks for your comment and sorry for my tardy response. I’d like a few more hours every day at the moment. 😉 It’s interesting how people think lawns are less effort than plants. I think a lot of people are scared by plants though. I guess if you’re a non-gardener it can be off-putting.