Behind The Scenes – Love Your Garden 2017: Episode 4 – Shrewsbury

For this episode the team and I headed up to Shrewsbury in Shropshire, where we met former nurse Gina Constable, who has raised over a quarter of a million pounds for the Air Ambulance charity over the past 21 years.

This garden was inspires by the wishes of her late husband, and we went to work to create a spectacular Japanese-style garden, complete with cloud-pruned trees, Japanese maples, beautiful rock arrangements and a wooden thatched summer house. Japanese garden design is one of my favourite styles, and it really did look magnificent at the end.

Video Diary – Part 1

This is Pete, one of our contractors that worked with me on the hard landscaping for this garden. He has a wicked sense of humour, and he and the team were marvellous professionals.

Here you can see Alan doing a bit of pruning on this wonderful cloud tree that we brought into the garden. Lloyd, aka Stormbringer, is getting right in with the boom mic to get the sound of the clipping, always working hard to bring you the full experience.

This view is from the back of the garden. We were very lucky on this shoot to be able to access the back of the garden, as it is often a logistical nightmare to get all of the products and machinery in and out of the gardens through tiny alleys and doorways. However, towards the end of the episode we had to close up the fence, and then we had the normal chaos ensued with people tussling over space and right of way!

Nothing will make you feel manly like a three headed, chrome plated flamethrower. Here I am getting to grips with using it to char this wooden bench. It’s an ancient Japanese technique that is used to seal the exterior surface of wooden buildings, therefore protecting them from the elements.

Here we go. Frances relaxing on the rooftop, taking it easy as usual. She spent a lot of time on top of that sunhouse, and I suspect it was more about catching the rays than doing any real graft…

Rob and Lloyd are known on set as “The Dream Team”. They work so hard around the set trying to capture all of the important work and funny little moments that happen in the course of creating these gardens, and they do a great job.

It may look like Katie is trying to hide out in the bushes on the left here, but as you can see she is actually doing a bit of presenting while the directors watch the shot on a portable monitor on the right.

Video Diary – Part 2

This shot is completely natural, obviously…

No, here you can see a quick publicity shot of the four of us looking very spritely and presentable. I believe this particular shot was for Radio Times.

Katie is such a lovely lass, and always up for a cheeky selfie. We all get along great in the team, and it’s truly a pleasure to work with them all.

One of our directors, Paul, shouting “Stop taking photos and get on with your work, David!”

Only joking, he is in fact giving some serious directing orders here, and he does a marvellous job putting the episode together.

When the little finishing touches start being put into place, you know you are on the home stretch. Frances here is getting some of the final items to complete her beautiful summerhouse.

Here are some final shots of the garden. The Japanese style looked incredible, and the cloud tree is still one of my favourite features of the design. You can see the hosepipes hanging about as we always give everything a good water before bringing the family home.

And here we are, about to crack open the bubbly, which I’m giving a right good shake up to celebrate in style.

Gina is a wonderful woman and an example to us all. It was such a pleasure to create this relaxing haven for her, right on her back door step, and I hope it will bring her joy for many years to come.