0:00:02 > 0:00:06I believe that a really good way to understand a culture is through its gardens.
0:00:06 > 0:00:12This is an extraordinary journey to visit 80 inspiring gardens from all over the world.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Some are very well-known like the Taj Mahal or the Alhambra.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22And I'm also challenging my idea of what a garden actually is.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25So, I'm visiting gardens that float on the Amazon,
0:00:25 > 0:00:27a strange fantasy in the jungle,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30as well as the private homes of great designers,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and the desert flowering in a garden...
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and wherever I go I shall be meeting people that share my own passion for gardens
0:00:37 > 0:00:44on my epic quest to see the world through 80 of its most fascinating and beautiful gardens.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57This is my very first visit to India,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01and I confess that it's daunted me more than anywhere else in the world.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06I know that this is a country of fierce natural extremes,
0:01:06 > 0:01:11with the weather alternating between drought and torrential monsoon rains.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16However, I also know that this beautiful country holds a rich gardening tradition
0:01:16 > 0:01:18and that's what I want to explore.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24And through its gardens, hopefully, I'll be able to make sense of the country.
0:01:28 > 0:01:34I begin my journey in the imperial state of Rajasthan and the gardens of India's imperial past.
0:01:34 > 0:01:40Then, travelling south to Kerala, I find gardens founded upon the tea and spice trade.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Finally, I'll return north to Chandigarh,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48and an extraordinary garden that was created in secret in the middle of the jungle.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Nowhere on this planet is more sensuous than India.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02The colours, scents, sounds, food and sheer physicality,
0:02:02 > 0:02:07create a vibrant turmoil that you simply can't avoid.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Clearly this is exhilarating, but it is also rather overwhelming,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15and surrounded by this sensuous assault, it is hard to know where to begin.
0:02:16 > 0:02:22So, I decide to start at India's most famous and most visited site.
0:02:22 > 0:02:28But what many tourists don't realise when they make their pilgrimage is that, in fact, this is a garden.
0:02:28 > 0:02:34So I begin my journey at dawn to visit the most iconic building on the planet.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50Of course, the hardest thing on any really well known monument -
0:02:50 > 0:02:54and there is no monument in the world better known than the Taj Mahal -
0:02:54 > 0:03:00is to react trying to forget all the images you've seen.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Just as when you see
0:03:26 > 0:03:29some extraordinary beauty...
0:03:30 > 0:03:32..the reaction...
0:03:33 > 0:03:35..is to still you.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38It stops you in your tracks and there's not a lot to say.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40All you can do is just experience it.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52The Taj Mahal is the most spectacular example of a Mughal 'tomb garden'.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57Mughal architecture and gardens were always inseparably entwined,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00and the basic template for the gardens
0:04:00 > 0:04:05was taken from the description in the Koran of heaven, which is depicted as a garden.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11The Mughal garden was always divided into four quadrants with water an essential feature.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Each quadrant was subdivided again with raised pathways,
0:04:14 > 0:04:19although these were remodelled as large lawns under the British-led restoration.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40In the centre of the garden is a large marble tank from which run four broad canals
0:04:40 > 0:04:45in which the ghostly reflection of the tomb is held and shimmers.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51This was a garden intended, literally, as paradise on earth,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55a living mirror of heaven.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07The Taj Mahal is a monument to one of history's great love stories.
0:05:07 > 0:05:14The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built it as the final resting place of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Its construction took 20,000 men 22 years to complete.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23And every inch, every stone is a testament of love and sorrow.
0:05:27 > 0:05:35The marble up here is blindingly white as the sun rises and it gets hotter.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41It makes a stark contrast to the green of the garden and I'm sure that's deliberate.
0:05:41 > 0:05:48You walk through this garden and arrive at this very austere, very pure place.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51White, white marble.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56Then, inside the tomb itself, it's very dark.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58No photography allowed.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02All you can do is go from this brilliant light into the gloom.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16The famous gardens at the front of the main building are not original,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20having been restored during the first quarter of the 20th century,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22following centuries of gradual neglect.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27But what lies beyond the tomb is far less known, and much more accurately preserved.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Across the river, ruins can be seen.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Over the centuries, a myth grew up
0:06:34 > 0:06:39that Shah Jahan had intended to build himself a twin tomb there, but in black marble.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44The Black Taj. The mirror image of his wife's in all but colour.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48But I think the truth is actually much more interesting,
0:06:48 > 0:06:54because the work done since the early '90s has proven that, in fact, this was not a tomb
0:06:54 > 0:06:58but an extension of the garden of the Taj Mahal.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03And down here, what you have is a vast tank,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05which would have been full of water,
0:07:05 > 0:07:11coming right in among these lotus leaf filigrees - imagine the water scalloped in there -
0:07:11 > 0:07:13and a beautiful pavilion around it
0:07:13 > 0:07:17from which people could view the mausoleum,
0:07:17 > 0:07:22the white marble reflected in the water across the river.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Now, what that means is that
0:07:26 > 0:07:33the Taj Mahal is the centre of the garden both figuratively and literally
0:07:33 > 0:07:40with a beautiful and extraordinary grand garden in front of it and across the river behind it.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46And through the archaeological work, they've managed to reconstruct the garden much more faithfully
0:07:46 > 0:07:52than that which you see in front of the building or, in fact, any of the other Mogul gardens.
0:07:52 > 0:07:58It's planted up really densely with trees and shrubs, with flowers and fruit,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02all of which are designed to enrich the senses.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06So, what you have is a paradise garden and that was deliberate.
0:08:06 > 0:08:13That is what Shah Jahan intended for his bride to have around her as she lay dead.
0:08:21 > 0:08:28Shah Jahan's reign was long and glorious but it ended as it began, with tragedy.
0:08:28 > 0:08:35Not in his paradise garden, but a few miles down the river in the Red Fort of Agra.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42Having created for posterity the heavenly beauty of the Taj Mahal,
0:08:42 > 0:08:47it was here, in the old ruling palace of the Mughals' Indian empire,
0:08:47 > 0:08:53with most of its magnificent buildings, still standing today,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56that Shah Jahan ended his reign,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58not on the throne,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00but as a captive.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10But for the last seven years of his life, he was kept a prisoner here by his own son.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16And although it was a very grand prison - a gilded cage, if you like -
0:09:16 > 0:09:23it did mean that this balcony behind me was the closest that he could get to the Taj Mahal.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29So he'd come and gaze out down the river to where his dead wife lay.
0:09:38 > 0:09:44Whilst undoubtedly the Taj Mahal is the great cultural icon of India,
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and it's essential visiting,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48it's actually only one part of its garden story.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53About an hour down the road, at Sikandra, is Akbar's tomb.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58And this, with it's garden, contains an element that even the Taj Mahal can't match.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04It was built by Shah Jahan's grandfather, The Emperor Akbar,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07who ruled from 1556 to 1605,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and in many ways it's the precursor of the Taj Mahal.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15But what makes it extremely unusual is to this day,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18it is still filled with extraordinary animals.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29I came, of course, to see the animals, but what I hadn't expected was a sandstorm
0:10:29 > 0:10:34which has really whipped up out of nowhere.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38But it's not ideal because all the animals have run away.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I managed to grab my hat before it disappears.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52The storm passes and the animals return.
0:10:52 > 0:10:58There are langurs with their young lining up to be admired and fed.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02And blackbuck testing out their fine corkscrew horns.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07And there are peacocks too, out-dazzling everyone and everything.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11The Mughals valued all aspects of nature
0:11:11 > 0:11:15and the menagerie was seen as an integral part of a true paradise garden.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Hunting was one of the great Mughal pleasures
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and so the animals also provided the emperors with sport.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30But they were only part of any Mughal garden and never the main focus of interest.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Remember, the gardens were based upon the Islamic ideal of paradise.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42Paradise was a place which, above all, had abundant water,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and so water was always a part of paradise gardens.
0:11:46 > 0:11:52The whole Islamic Mughal garden mythology was centred around water.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58A large tank of water was always central and also significant -
0:11:58 > 0:12:01the bigger the tank the more important the garden -
0:12:01 > 0:12:04so this is a real whopper of a tank in a very dry part of the country.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07Then you have these rills which it overflowed into.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12You can see how lovely it would be if that was water and catching the sunlight
0:12:12 > 0:12:18this silver line going straight down to the doorway and then leading to the tomb.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21It's really sad that it's empty and dry
0:12:21 > 0:12:26and I can only suppose that water is in such shortage at this dry time of year
0:12:26 > 0:12:29that it just can't be afforded.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41The walkways are raised right above the garden
0:12:41 > 0:12:46with what look to me like holders for torches so you could see it at night.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51By looking down on it, you would see the flowers below you,
0:12:51 > 0:12:56and across into what would have been trees with the animals amongst them.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00It wasn't until the British came and cleared most of the trees,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04to make it look like a Capability Brown park, that you had grassland.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12The Mughals were empire builders,
0:13:12 > 0:13:16successfully invading India from Afghanistan in 1526.
0:13:16 > 0:13:24During the subsequent three centuries, they created a fantastically opulent dynasty.
0:13:24 > 0:13:31What I find really staggering about this place, Akbar's Tomb,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35and, of course, the Taj Mahal is that they are tombs.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40They're not palaces and yet they are enormous, glorious places
0:13:40 > 0:13:44and it makes you realise, apart from anything else, how rich they must have been.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Almost incomprehensible wealth.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57During the 16th and 17th centuries,
0:13:57 > 0:14:03Mughal society was at the height of its cultural and artistic sophistication.
0:14:03 > 0:14:09Akbar's Tomb and the Taj Mahal were only two of the many magnificent gardens of that era.
0:14:09 > 0:14:17While most now lie in ruins, all bear witness to that golden age of Mughal power.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22Before the Mughals established their rule,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26India was a series of individual, mainly Hindu, states,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29each with its own ruler or Maharajah.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34The Mughals were canny enough not to sweep away this existing culture,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38but gave them wealth and power and let them keep their religion.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43So, the Maharajahs continued to build and maintain their own palaces and gardens,
0:14:43 > 0:14:48although, their gardens were not devoted to Allah, but to pleasure.
0:14:52 > 0:14:53Thank you.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15In my next garden, the principle pleasure is relief from the unbearable Rajasthan summer heat.
0:15:15 > 0:15:21Built in the mid-18th century, the Monsoon Garden at Deeg was a large palace
0:15:21 > 0:15:26with a whole range of gardens all devoted to cooling display and entertainment.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31The Mughal gardens were based strictly upon order, restraint and harmony,
0:15:31 > 0:15:37and although Deeg, made 100 years after the Taj Mahal, does show many Mughal influences,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41it's frankly extravert, slightly kitsch and technically ingenious.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46From up here on the roof, you can see clearly the layout of the Char Bagh,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50or the Mogul, four quadrants of the garden.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53The key difference is in the way that water is used,
0:15:53 > 0:15:58because in Islamic and Mogul gardens, it tended to be tinkling and modest,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02whereas here, it's festive, it's a socking great display,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07and I think that's the key to the difference between the Moguls and the Maharajahs.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11They did like to party and to party as extravagantly as possible.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15The water needed for the fountains
0:16:15 > 0:16:20and all the other extraordinary displays of water they used in the garden
0:16:20 > 0:16:23all had to be brought up here
0:16:23 > 0:16:24into this tank
0:16:24 > 0:16:29which holds, apparently, 600,000 gallons -
0:16:29 > 0:16:33every single drop of which had to be drawn up.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Before it was filled, all these holes around the outside -
0:16:36 > 0:16:40there are hundreds of them - were stopped up with wooden bungs.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42It would be filled up and would just sit there.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Then if wanted water to go to particular parts of the garden
0:16:45 > 0:16:50or even particular fountains you pulled out the appropriate bung and down it went.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57They could even change the colour of the fountains by adding dye to the water.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06Now, this enormous quantity of water was drawn up
0:17:06 > 0:17:08from a big deep well there
0:17:08 > 0:17:11by a wheel into a huge leather bucket
0:17:11 > 0:17:14that would just balance on the edge there
0:17:14 > 0:17:17and that was drawn by ropes by a pair of oxen.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22You can see that the ropes over the years have worn a groove in the stone.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27The oxen would go down the hill drawing up the full leather bucket of water
0:17:27 > 0:17:30and then come back up here and it was the job of one man
0:17:30 > 0:17:32just to tip the water out onto this slope.
0:17:32 > 0:17:38It ran down into this corner, underneath the walkway into the tank.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42It took that team a whole month to fill it up.
0:17:55 > 0:18:03To get the most from this garden it's important to imagine it as a place filled with water.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Instead of being a sort of monolithic stony lines,
0:18:06 > 0:18:12these canals would be light and silvery, and reflecting the sky and the greenery.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17There would be colour from the different fountains, colour from the reflections,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21colour from the people in their gorgeous clothes walking around.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25It would be a place of festival and entertainment and light,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and not this sort of semi-archaeological place,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32which is fascinating but doesn't really do it justice at all.
0:18:48 > 0:18:54This cage jutting out from the side of the building where everyone could see it was to house a tiger.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04The ingenuity of the waterworks is extraordinary
0:19:04 > 0:19:08and they culminate in one outrageous performance in this building.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16This pavilion is the culmination of the Maharajah's extravagance.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20I think it's the most opulent thing I've ever seen in a garden anywhere in the world.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22It's the Monsoon Pavilion
0:19:22 > 0:19:28and it was used to simulate and recreate the monsoon.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32There was a wide canal surrounding the central area,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35with large fountains that would flow.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39The roof is a false roof and effectively it's a water tank
0:19:39 > 0:19:44filled up from the basin across on the large roof.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49When it was full, water would run down from small pipes on the inside
0:19:49 > 0:19:52to create a curtain of rain.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56So, the Maharajah and his friends and family could sit on the inside
0:19:56 > 0:20:00and look through this wall of rain, just like the monsoon.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05There were also, incredibly, metal balls inside the hollow columns
0:20:05 > 0:20:10that banged together as the water flowed past them simulating thunder.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16The whole thing, an orgy of water, noise and blessed coolness.
0:20:16 > 0:20:22So, you had the rumble of thunder, the crashing of the water, the fragrance of the rain.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24All that would last for an afternoon
0:20:24 > 0:20:30and that piece of theatre would take the entire tank on the roof
0:20:30 > 0:20:32that took a month to fill.
0:20:37 > 0:20:43Now, I would go on into the central area but it's occupied by rhesus macaques,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46who've made it very clear that it's their territory
0:20:46 > 0:20:50and they certainly don't want me or anyone else on
0:20:50 > 0:20:52and I'm advised they have a very nasty bite.
0:20:59 > 0:21:06From the vantage point of the top tank, you can see that Deeg is set in a parched landscape,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11so this extravagance of the water garden was a dramatic statement of the wealth and power of the owner.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15The two huge lower tanks were a key part of the garden's water system,
0:21:15 > 0:21:22but today it is being used only by local people to wash clothes and themselves.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26The jubilant watery celebrations belong really to the past,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30and for much of the time, the garden sits silent and dry.
0:21:30 > 0:21:36But my next garden is a Maharajah's pleasure garden that is being brought expertly back to life.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49So I make the journey four hours drive west of Deeg,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53to Jaipur, the Red City and the capital of Rajasthan,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57whose broad streets are four times as densely populated as London
0:21:57 > 0:22:00and they throng with hectic life.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09However much you prepare yourself for India and read about it,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13nothing can really ready you for the sensual assault.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Everything you look at is an extraordinary picture,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20the colours, the sounds, the scents, the tastes,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24are so vivid that it is genuinely overwhelming.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27You feel submerged from time to time.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30And, it's all rather wonderful.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47The garden I've come to see lies just outside the old city.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01The water garden at Deeg is very beautiful but it is a ghost garden.
0:23:01 > 0:23:07You feel that without the water and without lots of people, it doesn't truly come alive.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Well, this is a very different kettle of fish.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15It's very alive but it's in a state of disrepair.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20This is the Jal Mahal, and every year, after the monsoon rains have fallen,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23this garden comes truly into its own.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30Now in the middle of the dry season, it looks as though Jal Mahal
0:23:30 > 0:23:34is set on the edge of a potential landfill site.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37But actually it's positioned in the middle of a giant lake
0:23:37 > 0:23:42and when the monsoons come, this will fill right up.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44A vast wall barricades the valley,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48creating a dam to hold the water that pours off the mountains
0:23:48 > 0:23:51to form the lake which surrounds the building.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56So this isn't a garden containing a water feature, but a water feature containing a garden!
0:23:56 > 0:24:00In fact, there's so much water that,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02at the peak of the floods,
0:24:02 > 0:24:04the whole of the lower storey would be flooded
0:24:04 > 0:24:08and you can see that the windows are staggered diagonally
0:24:08 > 0:24:11to provide different landing stages for visitors,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13as they came to the building.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17But for the moment visitors are barred since the site is being restored.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Luckily, that doesn't include us.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28This building may look from the outside like another wonderful palace
0:24:28 > 0:24:33but, in fact, the whole thing exists to support a pleasure garden.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40And when it came to pleasure, the Maharajahs bowed to no-one.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49What style they had!
0:24:49 > 0:24:53They created an artificial island, shaped it like a palace,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58and then flooded an entire valley, simply to create a lovely garden.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01And although it's fallen into disrepair,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03the garden is being restored and reinvented
0:25:03 > 0:25:07with the help of the American garden designer Mitch Crites.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10What are you hoping to achieve here? What's the plan?
0:25:10 > 0:25:12The first phase is to complete the garden
0:25:12 > 0:25:15and we're calling it Chameli Bagh. Chameli means jasmine
0:25:15 > 0:25:20and jasmine is a very beautiful, fragrant flower and scents the entire garden.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26And then, inside the garden, we've taken a floral arabesque design which is a fusion
0:25:26 > 0:25:30of all of those elements that have come from the past.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Hindu, Muslim, Mogul, Persian.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Jaipur probably, maybe only Florence,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and a few other cities in the world, have so many living arts and crafts.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54These stone carvers, without any doubt their ancestors were employed
0:25:54 > 0:25:58to create the original city of Jaipur in the 18th century.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01And these skills have been passed on from generation to generation.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06You're saying that the same families of craftsmen
0:26:06 > 0:26:10are still working on this that worked on the original building.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15No-one is in touch with second millennium BC roots, the way India is
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and that makes India very special.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21You've lived here for over 40 years,
0:26:21 > 0:26:26tell me what it's like to experience the monsoon - I can hardly imagine.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Well, it's an extraordinary time.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30This is April.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33The heat hasn't even hit yet. Heat and dust hasn't even hit.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38Soon it will become hotter - 47, 48, 49 degrees
0:26:38 > 0:26:44and then the sky will turn yellow and the sun will turn lavender
0:26:44 > 0:26:46and it becomes hotter and hotter and more humid
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and you know the rain is up there but it doesn't come down.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53And people who feel like clawing at the sky, to make it come down.
0:26:53 > 0:26:54It's there but it doesn't fall.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00When it falls, if anybody - children, adults - riding in a car,
0:27:00 > 0:27:05you get out of the car and you stand in the rain, you just stand there.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Thank God, it's come, finally it's come.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15It's a great, great relief.
0:27:22 > 0:27:28The garden's empty because it's the middle of the day, and it is quite phenomenally hot.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Heroically hot.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36Everybody other than the odd mad dog and one even madder Englishman,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39is taking refuge from the sun.
0:27:39 > 0:27:45But seeing it in its empty state, it reinforces the fact that this is the first of my gardens I've seen
0:27:45 > 0:27:48in the process of being made and very early stages too.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53And that's interesting and exciting because it brings home,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57it brings to life the continuity that is expressed here.
0:27:57 > 0:28:03The continuity of materials that come from the same quarries, of craftsmanship, even of craftsmen
0:28:03 > 0:28:07because it was their ancestors that made the original building two and a half centuries ago
0:28:07 > 0:28:14that were connected to the people that made the Taj Mahal, that go back thousands of years.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24But while the Maharajas built their grand palaces for spectacular outward display,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28there's another type of Hindu garden I very much want to see.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31One created primarily to satisfy inner needs.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37If you're not careful, it's easy to assume that a culture is best represented
0:28:37 > 0:28:39by the gardens of the great and the good.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43But it's not all maharajahs' palaces here in Rajasthan,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47and true Hindu gardens can be found best in temples
0:28:47 > 0:28:53and I'm now going to see a very modest temple with its own little courtyard garden.
0:28:55 > 0:29:01My guide to the sacred plants of this Hindu Temple Garden is Saurab Sinclair.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04- Shoes.- Shoes off. Is that really important?
0:29:04 > 0:29:07It is, it's to keep the purity of the space.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09They haven't seen my feet!
0:29:09 > 0:29:12That's part of your purity at the moment.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18Now you say this is a typical Hindu garden.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22That's correct. This is a temple garden really.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26Everything here is because it's auspicious or it's worshipped.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28You've got the jasmine,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31the banana,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33- people tree...- Which is essential.
0:29:33 > 0:29:34Which is essential.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37The branches look more like the roots
0:29:37 > 0:29:41and they believe that's how it connects the two worlds together, that it's upside down.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45My feet are connecting rather painfully to the surface. It is so hot!
0:29:45 > 0:29:46We should move to the temple.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50That's really hot!
0:29:50 > 0:29:53- It's a warm courtyard.- Now this obviously is the temple itself.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55This is the main temple.
0:29:55 > 0:30:01There's a little Krishna temple around the corner but this is the main sanctity of the temple.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03- HE SPEAKS HINDU - What were you asking for there?
0:30:03 > 0:30:08I was asking for the blessings, which would be the water with some basil in it.
0:30:10 > 0:30:11So that you can be blessed.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Right, what do I have to do?
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Big bit of basil there. It's all falling out.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21- So just touch it to your lips and over your head.- OK.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23- That's it.- Fully blessed!
0:30:23 > 0:30:28I'll show you the plant, it's right here if you can brave the courtyard again.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31It looks sort of a bit like marjoram, doesn't it?
0:30:31 > 0:30:32But it's...
0:30:32 > 0:30:34HE SNIFFS
0:30:34 > 0:30:38Oh, gosh, it's much more pungent and intense.
0:30:38 > 0:30:45They continuously pluck it to place into the water, to place on lunar eclipses in your food.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50They use the seeds to give it to widows so that they keep their chaste.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53- Quells their lust. - Quells their lust.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57The design of this little garden isn't important. That's not the point.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00The plants are being grown as material for fragrant offerings,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03or for their religious symbolism.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08This small temple garden
0:31:08 > 0:31:14is actually closest to the pure Hindu idea of a garden that there is.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19But the Moguls were very wise when they let Hinduism exist,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24and places like this could continue as they always have done for centuries,
0:31:24 > 0:31:29and the Maharajahs didn't reject all the Mogul influences.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33They absorbed them and made something of their own and again there was a coexistence.
0:31:33 > 0:31:39If there is such a thing as a typical truly Indian garden, then I suppose that this is it.
0:31:39 > 0:31:44And it's interesting that the most humble and practical of gardens is still in constant use
0:31:44 > 0:31:47while those of the rich and powerful eventually fall away.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52And the main reason for this is that here, in the bone dry north of India, water is so precious
0:31:52 > 0:31:55that you need incredible wealth just to maintain a garden.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58When the money dried up, so did the gardens.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01But down south, in the lush hills of Kerala,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05the climate is so perfect for plants, almost all plants,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08that money practically grows on trees.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16For over 1,000 years, traders have made fortunes in the port of Kochin.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22And the town is deliciously infused with the smell of the commodity that lured them here.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24The warm, exotic scents of spice.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29The influence of a succession of spice merchants from around the world
0:32:29 > 0:32:33can still be seen in the old Dutch streets, the 16th-century Portuguese church,
0:32:33 > 0:32:38and, most dramatically, in the beautiful Chinese fishing nets.
0:32:42 > 0:32:48Spices have drawn people here from the other side of the world for hundreds and hundreds of years.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50The Chinese were the first to come here.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Then the Portuguese came at the end of the 15th century,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56then the Dutch took over at the end of the 17th century
0:32:56 > 0:33:00and finally the British took possession at the beginning of the 19th century.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04So there's been wave upon wave of colonisation,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07based entirely upon the spice trade.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Given its geographical position,
0:33:13 > 0:33:19the coast of southern India is a natural staging post for trade between the West and the Far East.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22But what makes it ideal for the spice trade
0:33:22 > 0:33:27are the perfect growing conditions in the lush green hills inland.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39Hot, wet and steamy and yet, critically, cooled by cloud,
0:33:39 > 0:33:44the mountain jungles are rich with treasure growing on the hillsides.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49These forests are the indigenous habitat of some of the most valuable plants in the world.
0:33:49 > 0:33:54So, appropriately enough, my next visit is to a spice garden.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Part small-holding, part permaculture
0:34:05 > 0:34:09and part botanical garden, Mr Abraham's plot defies categorisation.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12But one thing is instantly apparent - it is expertly tended,
0:34:12 > 0:34:17with some of the world's most sought-after plants growing happily here in his tame piece of jungle.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22The star of the garden is a plant native to Kerala,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26which finds its way on to practically every dining table in the world.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28- You can see the pepper here.- Ah-ha.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31See the pepper growing, see.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34So it grows as a little bundle of seeds?
0:34:34 > 0:34:36Actually when the flower comes,
0:34:36 > 0:34:43it is white in colour and when the rainwater oozes from the top to the bottom the pollination happens.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46- So it's pollinated by rainwater? - Yeah, no honeybees, no wind.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49It is through the rainwater the pollination happens.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51If no rain, no fruit grows...
0:34:51 > 0:34:55And you see when they ripe they become red colour, you see the red colour here...
0:34:55 > 0:35:00And if you peel the skin off and dry that, it's white pepper.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06See the green and red? Dry in the sun - within one day both these will change to black colour.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10- Which do you prefer? - You want to taste one pepper?
0:35:10 > 0:35:11Lets try that one.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14White one - the most strong one.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16OK, see if I can take it, if I'm man enough.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Do you have a bottle of water with you?
0:35:20 > 0:35:22No. It is strong!
0:35:22 > 0:35:25It's nice, its good, it's not nasty is it. It's just hot.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27It's hot and high flavour
0:35:27 > 0:35:30- and you know it is the best pepper in the world.- Really?
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Yes, pepper originated in Kerala.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35- And it did come from here?- Yeah.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- I tell you what, I can hardly speak! - HE LAUGHS
0:35:38 > 0:35:43The pepper's just hit me. I haven't got any water, but I will survive.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45'He did warn me!
0:35:45 > 0:35:51'Then Mr Abraham led me to a stand of another very valuable, native Kerala spice.'
0:35:51 > 0:35:56- Ah, this is cardamom, the queen of spice.- The queen...
0:35:56 > 0:36:00You know, that's the fruit.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02See here, see the fruit grows in...
0:36:02 > 0:36:06we call it the panicle, it comes just at the bottom of the plant.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09This is the plant, actually.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13It grows up in the shade, under the trees, bigger trees only.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15Do you want to taste some fresh cardamom?
0:36:15 > 0:36:19Do you know, I honestly don't know what cardamom tastes like,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22but it is a really important spice, isn't it?
0:36:22 > 0:36:26- It is the taste of India. - I've got to taste it, haven't I?
0:36:26 > 0:36:33It is used in tea, coffee, in, um, sweet preparation, meat preparation, and in many medicine it is used.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38It is very good for blood circulation, like ginger.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40It's very seductive.
0:36:40 > 0:36:47'Mr Abraham and his family have been growing spices on this plot entirely organically, for three generations.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51'It is fascinating to see something that you hardly think of
0:36:51 > 0:36:53'as a plant at all growing in its natural home.'
0:36:53 > 0:36:55That is coffee.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Yes, I thought I recognised that. I've never seen coffee in flower.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02This is coffee arabica.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05- It's lovely. Like jasmine. - Smells like jasmine.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17- What's this in the corner here? - That is turmeric,
0:37:17 > 0:37:22and it is the root of the turmeric that is the real spice.
0:37:22 > 0:37:28- This is the root.- Pinch it and see the colour.- Can I break this?
0:37:28 > 0:37:31The fresh one is mostly used for medicines,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33against snake bites, spider bites and so on...
0:37:33 > 0:37:36It kills all the poisons.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39In India you have the relationship between health and food
0:37:39 > 0:37:44sorted out and its very sophisticated and very successful...
0:37:44 > 0:37:48In the West, we don't do this and it's clumsy.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52- You can start.- You're dead right, we can start and we should start.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58'I think that one of the best ways to understand the past is to smell
0:37:58 > 0:38:05'and taste it, and seeing these spices grow underlined the extraordinary historical wealth
0:38:05 > 0:38:13'to be had from India, based upon plants that could be easily grown and then traded at vast profit.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17'The tropical mountain climate is not just ideal for growing spices,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21'but also another plant, introduced by the British from China,
0:38:21 > 0:38:27'and which provides the raw ingredient for the one thing I always miss most on my travels -
0:38:27 > 0:38:28'a nice cup of tea.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32'The British originally introduced tea growing to India
0:38:32 > 0:38:37'in the early 19th century when tea was moving from the preserve
0:38:37 > 0:38:39'of refined society to ordinary working people.'
0:38:42 > 0:38:46'This was encouraged mainly because it was an alternative to alcohol,
0:38:46 > 0:38:51'but also because it needed boiling, so the water was purified,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54'making it a safe as well as a temperate drink.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00'I hadn't expected tea to make such a bewitching scene.'
0:39:03 > 0:39:09'Walking through it is like wading through a vast, bristly green sculpture.'
0:39:09 > 0:39:14The tea crop makes for the most beautiful landscape
0:39:14 > 0:39:21because the bushes are organised in a series of crazed patterns,
0:39:21 > 0:39:23like drying mud,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26and that mixture of uniformity
0:39:26 > 0:39:32and rhythmic but irregular change,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35is just like a lot of modern topiary.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39In fact, I'd go so far as to say, this is as beautiful
0:39:39 > 0:39:42as many a garden. They're called tea gardens.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It raises that perennial question, when is a garden not a garden?
0:39:46 > 0:39:50I think in a place like this that question becomes irrelevant,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53the whole thing just evaporates
0:39:53 > 0:39:59into one beautiful, man-made arrangement of plants.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13'All tea is produced from the leaves of camellias.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15'In fact, the vast majority
0:40:15 > 0:40:18'of all tea comes from one particular species,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22'which is camellia sinensis, the Chinese camellia.'
0:40:22 > 0:40:26It's just these tender leaves that are picked
0:40:26 > 0:40:31and it's that that produces your morning cuppa.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39'These perfectly manicured hillsides are a combination
0:40:39 > 0:40:42'of natural and man-made beauty,
0:40:42 > 0:40:47'although I suspect that the women working in them might see them in a less ecstatic way.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52'They are maintained to look like this only as a result of their constant labour,
0:40:52 > 0:40:56'with much of the crop still harvested entirely by hand.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00'They are called tea gardens, but I am not going to count them
0:41:00 > 0:41:04'as one of my 80 gardens, although it was fascinating to see them.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08'However, the tea company here does maintain a real garden
0:41:08 > 0:41:12'at its head office, and that is where I am going now.'
0:41:21 > 0:41:26'The Railway Garden is built around a de-commissioned railway station in the hill town of Munnar.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30'But crikey! It is rum do.
0:41:30 > 0:41:37'It's just like stepping into a hand-tinted postcard of a 1930's British garden.'
0:41:47 > 0:41:51This is a very strange place.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54I'm not sure I know what to make of this at all.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03So you've got hydrangeas, just like my grandfather used to grow.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11And snapdragons, Salvias, Alstroemerias -
0:42:11 > 0:42:14all the ingredients of an English garden,
0:42:14 > 0:42:19but it doesn't look like any kind of English garden that I've seen for, what...
0:42:19 > 0:42:2130, 40 years?
0:42:23 > 0:42:27'This garden looks like a pre-war time warp.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31'But, astonishingly, it was created as recently as 1980.'
0:42:37 > 0:42:41These rows of salvias
0:42:41 > 0:42:46and white alyssum, now white alyssum takes me back. When I was a child,
0:42:46 > 0:42:53the bedding by the front door, year in, year out, was white alyssum and pelargonium,
0:42:53 > 0:42:58but what's curious is that anybody over 50 coming from England would recognise
0:42:58 > 0:43:03lots of elements of this garden with a sort of dreamy nostalgia.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05But anybody under 35 or 40
0:43:05 > 0:43:08would recognise practically nothing here.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11It would be completely surreal.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20When would this tea have been picked?
0:43:20 > 0:43:22- Yesterday.- Really?- Yes.
0:43:25 > 0:43:26We've got...
0:43:26 > 0:43:31a yearly flower show that we have and it's organised by the YWCA,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34that's the Young Women's Christian Association.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38and, er, every year the garden comes first.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42It's got so many flowers around, it makes you feel good.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46I like the entire garden, it's beautiful.
0:43:46 > 0:43:51Is it deliberately evoking British connections?
0:43:51 > 0:43:54This garden has a lot of British touch in it.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59But I think if you go elsewhere you may not find a garden as beautiful as this.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03In general, do people like those British connections,
0:44:03 > 0:44:08or is it something that is done for historical reasons or because they like the result?
0:44:08 > 0:44:10I think they do like the British association.
0:44:10 > 0:44:16They've left behind a lot of cultures which we still do follow.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22'This garden is a relic from colonial days, although in fact
0:44:22 > 0:44:25'the Raj was already a distant memory when it was created.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30'But in its own dotty way, I think it is completely charming.'
0:44:30 > 0:44:32You know what it's like, it's like, um...
0:44:34 > 0:44:37ladies sitting by the sea,
0:44:37 > 0:44:39in a row,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43quite comfortable with their lives but looking back over it,
0:44:43 > 0:44:45rather than looking forward.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52'For all the eccentric Englishness of the garden,
0:44:52 > 0:44:57'as I leave I am confronted with a reminder that I'm actually a long way from home!'
0:44:57 > 0:45:02We are walking down here because there is an elephant on the back of a lorry there.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07I don't know what it is doing or where it is going, but I have never seen an elephant like that before.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15What a beautiful, beautiful animal.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22Last night one of the production team was woken up by a terrible crashing in the night
0:45:22 > 0:45:28and couldn't imagine what it was, and went out and it was an elephant tearing up the garden in the hotel.
0:45:28 > 0:45:34Seeing that makes you realise that we are in another country here.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42OK, this is not something I thought I would never say -
0:45:42 > 0:45:44follow that elephant!
0:46:22 > 0:46:26I'm now going back north to visit a much more potent symbol
0:46:26 > 0:46:31of British influence on India - the capital city of New Delhi.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39'New Delhi was designed by the British as a statement
0:46:39 > 0:46:44'of power and order, established with massive confidence in stone,
0:46:44 > 0:46:46'parks and grand vistas.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50'It is landscape architecture on a breathtaking scale.'
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I've seen pictures of this, or photographs...
0:46:53 > 0:46:59but actually in the flesh it's much more impressive, the whole scale is much bigger than I'd imagined.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09'In 1912, the building of New Delhi began.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12'It was to be a city suited to the grandeur of its status
0:47:12 > 0:47:16'as India's new capital, and this enormous project was given
0:47:16 > 0:47:21'to a relatively young and unknown English architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens.'
0:47:21 > 0:47:27Now, the extraordinary thing about Lutyens is that although he was a wonderful architect
0:47:27 > 0:47:31and designer, actually, I know him best as a garden designer,
0:47:31 > 0:47:36because he and Gertrude Jekyll did a whole series of gardens at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38which you can still visit.
0:47:38 > 0:47:44So, for me, this take me from the highways and byways of England
0:47:44 > 0:47:49to the Imperial Capital of the British Raj.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53An interesting little detail I've just noticed is that on the metalwork of the gates,
0:47:53 > 0:48:00you have the Tudor rose of England alternating with the lotus,
0:48:00 > 0:48:02the symbol of Hindu India.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13'Lutyens was an extraordinary man, able to work in an astonishing range of forms,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16'drawing inspiration wherever he found it.'
0:48:21 > 0:48:25'Here in New Delhi, I believe that he struck exactly the right note,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29'mixing imperial pomp with its Mughal and Hindu heritage.'
0:48:32 > 0:48:36The thing I find really extraordinary is that Lutyens,
0:48:36 > 0:48:41who was capable of designing exquisite relatively small gardens and light fittings
0:48:41 > 0:48:48and kitchen surfaces, could simultaneously be designing this vast imperial city.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57'Lutyens incorporated parks, avenues and trees into his design
0:48:57 > 0:49:01'for New Delhi, not only making it a beautiful green city, but also a cooler one,
0:49:01 > 0:49:07'providing shade and lowering the temperature of the centre by several degrees.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12'I think New Delhi is a masterpiece and despite being created as a statement of Imperial power,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16'it is an honourable inheritance from the British Raj.'
0:49:16 > 0:49:19'The irony of new Delhi is that by the time it was completed
0:49:19 > 0:49:22'in the early thirties, it was almost redundant.'
0:49:22 > 0:49:26Within 10, 15 years, the British Empire in India was over
0:49:26 > 0:49:30and it became just another piece of its past,
0:49:30 > 0:49:35like the Red Fort behind me built by Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40That is a symbol of the lost Mogul Empire, and through the gardens,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42I've just seen the way that cultures come and go
0:49:42 > 0:49:46and they adopt and absorb each other and that's how they survive.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49It's like the streets, where different colours and creeds
0:49:49 > 0:49:55and religions all mingle in this chaos, but somehow seem to be remarkably tolerant.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59But, before I leave India and before I finish this journey,
0:49:59 > 0:50:05I'd love to see a modern garden and to see where India possibly is going to.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09'And so, I'm making one final journey,
0:50:09 > 0:50:14'catching the 8.30 express from Delhi heading north to Chandigarh,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17'in the foothills of the Himalayas.'
0:50:19 > 0:50:23'I'm off to visit a garden famous not just for its completely
0:50:23 > 0:50:29'unique beauty, but also for the incredible story of its creation.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34'This is 25 acres of labyrinthine, sculpted gardens.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38'It is a bizarre and magical vision of modern India.'
0:50:47 > 0:50:52'The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is the creation of a single man,
0:50:52 > 0:50:56'who started building it in the 50s in a clearing in the jungle,
0:50:56 > 0:51:01'using just stones and waste material, without telling a soul.'
0:51:06 > 0:51:13This is all the waste, they look like broken loos, actually, and basins as much as anything.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17See, that's from a urinal, says he, touching it!
0:51:20 > 0:51:22These are old insulators, aren't they?
0:51:22 > 0:51:24They're beautiful.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26And, presumably, these are water pots.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35'Created on land its maker didn't even own,
0:51:35 > 0:51:39'for years it was undiscovered, a totally secret fantasy.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45'But in 1971 it was finally stumbled upon and very nearly bulldozed.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50'But, to their eternal credit, the local authorities realised that it was a work of genius
0:51:50 > 0:51:56'and not only decided to keep it but gave its maker, Nek Chand, now an old man, their full support.'
0:51:56 > 0:51:57Why in this place?
0:51:57 > 0:51:58Why here?
0:51:58 > 0:52:03I knew this place no building will be erected at any time.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06This is open space.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09And why did you do it? What made you do this?
0:52:09 > 0:52:14Because whenever I saw the material lying on the ground,
0:52:14 > 0:52:18on the roadside, behind the hotels and restaurants,
0:52:18 > 0:52:22I used to collect these things on my bicycle.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26- So you gathered all the materials on your bicycle?- Yes.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29That must have been quite a job.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34It was hard work, my job was also hard work
0:52:34 > 0:52:40and this...to bring the stones from the hills,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42it is also a very difficult job.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47And you have people, I imagine, from all over the world coming here.
0:52:47 > 0:52:52Did you ever imagine that would be the case when you were quietly making this garden?
0:52:52 > 0:52:56Never, I never imagined it.
0:52:56 > 0:52:57What a life!
0:52:57 > 0:52:59It is a god gift.
0:53:07 > 0:53:13'I bet people thought, "Oh, there's that mad bloke again, riding around collecting all his rubbish,"'
0:53:13 > 0:53:16and they didn't know that secretly
0:53:16 > 0:53:20he was creating this stony jewel
0:53:20 > 0:53:23in the middle of the jungle. I mean, how romantic is that?
0:53:23 > 0:53:27That's the best garden story in the history of the world.
0:53:32 > 0:53:38'The visitor to this garden enters into a private fantasy world, linked by narrow passageways
0:53:38 > 0:53:42'and deep gorges, twisting through its maze-like structure.'
0:53:44 > 0:53:46Look at that.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Look at that, look at that!
0:53:52 > 0:53:56'Everything is strange. Everything is a delight.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Everywhere you look, there is something extraordinary and something that assaults you
0:54:00 > 0:54:02and challenges preconceptions
0:54:02 > 0:54:05and that is what this garden is doing,
0:54:05 > 0:54:10every little twist and turn, you think, "Wow, what's going on there?"
0:54:20 > 0:54:23I love it, I love it, I love it.
0:54:45 > 0:54:52You see this type of thing is really good, broken...I don't know what, stone bosses, all different sizes,
0:54:52 > 0:54:58put irregularly on a path. Now, all conventional logic
0:54:58 > 0:55:01says either space them evenly, or put them to one side,
0:55:01 > 0:55:07but I like the fact that you have got to negotiate your way and pay attention!
0:55:29 > 0:55:31Whoa!
0:55:32 > 0:55:37My theory is that gardening is grown-ups going outside to play,
0:55:37 > 0:55:43and if you garden in the same spirit as you went out when you were a child, on a lovely summer's day
0:55:43 > 0:55:46and made camps and played cowboys and Indians or whatever
0:55:46 > 0:55:50and ran around, and then came in all hungry and had your tea,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54then A) you'll enjoy gardening more, and B) the gardens will be better.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57And this exemplifies that.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09See, look at that man there holding his cup.
0:56:09 > 0:56:15And others holding old cups... And he's made out of cups.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22And here we seem to have most of Indian wildlife.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26We've got macaques, and we've got leopards or tigers.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29And poor old skinny elephants,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33it's really good fun.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39Can you think of a better way of recycling
0:56:39 > 0:56:41than making it into beautiful art?
0:56:43 > 0:56:47It should be compulsory - do something beautiful with your rubbish.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55I've just been overwhelmed and delighted by this garden,
0:56:55 > 0:57:01I've just loved it and it seems to me a perfect modern image
0:57:01 > 0:57:05that represents India and humanity beautifully
0:57:05 > 0:57:10and it's one of the most pleasurable gardens
0:57:10 > 0:57:14I've ever visited, and I think one of the great gardens of the world.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20'I said, at the beginning of this journey, that I was a bit daunted.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22'The extremes of India seem so shocking,
0:57:22 > 0:57:26'and its life force so fierce that I wondered how I would cope.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30'But I have been completely seduced by the place.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34'Through its gardens, I have had an intoxicating taste
0:57:34 > 0:57:38'of its plants, people, history and landscape.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41'From the paradise gardens of the Mughal emperors,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45'to private pieces of tame jungle and the patterned landscapes of the tea gardens,
0:57:45 > 0:57:51'India is the most life enhancing place that I have ever visited.'
0:57:51 > 0:57:54And to finish in this garden,
0:57:54 > 0:57:56which is modern,
0:57:56 > 0:58:01based entirely on humanity, on one man's vision
0:58:01 > 0:58:04and yet visited and shared literally by millions every year,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07seems to me a great symbol for modern India.
0:58:07 > 0:58:12And I leave not remotely daunted, but full of hope.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20Next time, my travels will take me to the continent
0:58:20 > 0:58:25with the most diverse climate, plant life and landscapes on the planet.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29A land almost twice the size of Europe - South America.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:52 > 0:58:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk