Somerset Garden Rescue

With her can-do attitude,

love of simple gardens and decades of experience,

Charlie Dimmock is one of Britain's best-loved gardeners.

Looking good, boys!

But the new kids on the gardening block are the Rich brothers.

We want to be the brothers that change people's perceptions of gardens.

Winners of multiple medals at the Chelsea Flower Show...

Wow, that's amazing, isn't it?

..the boys have become known for their dramatic outdoor spaces.

Now, these two different generations of gardening are going head-to-head.

I know they've got a gold medal, but I can come up with a few ideas.

They're meeting frustrated garden owners across the country...

Not a lot going on, is there? Not a lot!

I don't know what to do with it.

..and will each pitch them a design based on their needs...

Wow!

..and budget.

-Oh, that sounds amazing.

-Doesn't look like it could be our garden.

The winner...

Yay!

Yeah!

..brings their design to life...

Hold on, hold on! Sweet as a nut.

..and the loser has to help them build it.

Keep working, keep working, boys.

Whoa, whoa, easy.

This is what happens...

Just get on with it! Sometime today would be good!

..when different styles collide...

I think your brother's throwing the toys out of his pram.

Right, are we doing this?

..to turn garden dreams into reality.

-Open your eyes.

-Oh!

Oh, it's lovely.

Wow!

Look at that!

Whoa!

It's not our garden!

It's time for Charlie and the Rich brothers

to find out today's garden challenge.

Here we have Jane and Michael. They're from Somerset.

Smiley, Smiley.

Here's their garden. Look at that.

-What a view! Oh, my!

-Isn't that beautiful?

-Can't go wrong with that, can you?

-No.

Jane, a primary school teacher, and her husband Michael

have enjoyed spectacular views from their home for 20 years.

When we came to look around the house,

we went to the back garden and just stood there and went...

"Oh, my gosh."

The view is why we bought the house.

But the garden itself isn't quite as picturesque.

People will come in and go,

"Wow, what a great view," but wouldn't it be lovely if they sat

in a beautiful garden and said, "Wow, Jane, this is a lovely garden,

"and it has a great view"?

And there's another issue

that's not going to make life easy for the designers.

Has this got a bit of a slope here or is that my imagination?

It does look a little bit like that, doesn't it?

-Can't really tell, though, how much of a slope.

-No.

In fact, it's a VERY steep slope,

but slopes can sometimes have added benefits.

Over the years, Jane, Michael and their two daughters

have found a rather novel use for theirs.

The girls really love the slope, rolling down it sideways,

and then, when we discovered you could put a water slide on it

with a piece of tarpaulin, they shot down it.

We used to apologise to the neighbours

about the amount of shrieking that was going on in the summer!

But since the girls have gone off to university,

things have become much quieter.

There's not really an awful lot going on in the garden.

It's almost at a standstill, isn't it?

Every year that goes by, it just gets more and more tired.

It's a gorgeous setting, huge potential,

but, at the moment, it's wasted. It's a bit of an empty space.

It's just transforming it, really,

-from being a bland lawn into something special.

-Yeah.

Jane and Michael have a particular theme in mind.

We'd like something really quintessentially English about it,

something that will attract the wildlife,

something that'll be peaceful, like, English country garden.

What would you like?

I'd like to replace my corkscrew hazel, which died.

That was my favourite plant.

Are you going to accuse me again of killing it?

Let's talk about the money!

-£3,000.

-I think that's quite good.

-That's quite a decent amount.

-Yeah.

-I know it's a biggish garden, but...

I think, whatever we do, it's really important to keep that view.

Really? I'd be blanking it out, lots of trees up there...

We've got this one, we've got this one!

LAUGHTER

£3,000 might be a healthy budget,

but it's clear there's going to be a lot of work to do.

So Charlie and the boys head to Somerset to take a look

at the view and that slope.

-Wow.

-It is, isn't it?

-It's way better than the pictures.

-Yeah. Panoramic.

But if you do that...

-Block it out...

-Don't look at the view, look at the garden...

-Then you're in trouble!

-Pretty boring, isn't it?

Yes. And a bit of a slope as well, which...

A bit? Understatement of the year!

This looks like you'd roll a cheese down it and chase it, mate!

Sloping gardens are notoriously tricky to design,

but there are things Charlie and the Rich brothers can do

to make the most of this particular one.

Terracing is a tried and tested method of making sloping gardens

more accessible, and it doesn't have to be uniform.

Each level or terrace can have its own individual purpose or theme.

The design could also include steps or add a feature path that meanders

or zigzags around the garden.

Or they could choose a mixture of hardy, easy-to-care-for plants

to make the slope more attractive

without adding too much extra maintenance.

But before they decide how they'll tackle this particular slope,

they need to find out what will suit Jane and Michael,

so Harry and David head inside to take a look around the house.

Can they spot any clues about the couple's taste?

Meanwhile, Charlie will grill Jane and Michael to find out more.

So, the garden's got lots of,

obviously, very fond memories for you.

Yes, it definitely does,

-but, you know, it's time now to look forward...

-Uh-huh.

..and to make it more of a garden just for us.

I mean, this patio area, is there a reason why it's here?

In the evening, when the sun's setting over there,

it's really quite sheltered,

and it's beautiful views over the valley.

So we wouldn't want to be planting this up heavily so you can't use it?

No.

LAUGHTER

-Some beautiful pieces of furniture in here.

-That is nice, isn't it?

-'60s Danish, got to love it.

-Good start.

What's so nice is, it's just got really lovely lines, hasn't it?

Lovely material. It's quite simple, quite elegant.

Definitely how we'd like to portray the garden.

-Yeah.

-Also, they've got a few nice cushions,

they've got a few nice throws.

It's lovely to have this kind of beautifully crafted structures

in the garden, but I think you have to have something that softens it.

Some soft, airy planting that's blowing in the wind.

-It would be gorgeous.

-Timeless and elegant.

Much like myself!

The Rich brothers have been inspired

whilst, outside, Charlie's doing some investigating of her own.

When it comes to the design, what are you thinking about?

We'd like something really typically English countryside.

We were thinking about, sort of, a wildlife area.

Something down the middle, you were thinking, wasn't it?

With flowers either side.

So, we are saying very traditional English garden,

-manor house, walled garden...

-Oh, manor house would be nice!

I like that idea!

So, would you like to get rid of all the lawn?

-No.

-No.

-No.

-So, we want some lawn.

Would you like it terraced?

Not particularly, no.

-I'm doing really well here, aren't I?

-We like the slope.

The slope has been our friend for many years.

So, Jane and Michael want an English country garden,

whilst preserving their beloved slope, and that fantastic view.

It's time for the designers to get to work.

Charlie and the Rich brothers will compete against each other

to come up with a design that will work

within Jane and Michael's £3,000 budget.

The couple will then have to choose a winner,

and whoever loses will have to help the winner build the garden.

The £3,000 budget will be used to cover the cost of the materials

for their new garden, while the labour will be supplied

by Charlie, the Rich brothers and their team of landscapers.

It's time for the designers to pitch their ideas.

Hello.

The brothers have spotted Jane and Michael's love of elegant, clean lines.

How will that feature in their design?

While Charlie knows they're keen on a traditional, English theme,

can she give Jane and Michael the garden they've been dreaming about?

So, for me, your garden is all about...

-the journey to your seating area, and the plants.

-Wow.

So, making it quintessentially English,

we're going to have a stone pathway

leading to this feature,

which is going to be a weeping rose.

-And you've got a sort of a seat already here.

-We have, yeah.

I want to enhance that.

And we can plant some camomile through the grass

so it'll be a scented seat.

The Rich brothers have really got to work hard to beat this one, Charlie.

Charlie's thrown down the gauntlet.

How will David and Harry respond?

We know this garden for you is very much about the view.

So what we wanted to do is give you a really, really special place

where you can appreciate the view from.

But you've got to get there first, of course, that's quite important,

so what we've done is, we've put in this quite linear, straight path,

which creates a really nice avenue,

but before you can get down to this space and appreciate it,

you've got to turn off left and that takes you through

a large planted bed. And, then, down in this area,

-we've made this lower seating area much larger, haven't we?

-Yeah.

The brothers have focused their attention

on the lower part of the garden.

Enlarging the patio area will make it much more comfortable

and appealing place to be, but the couple seem unsure.

It's not the quintessentially English garden they asked for.

You'll carry on walking down and so I'd lose the steps down here

and just have one, so the path slopes down,

but it won't be so steep,

-so you don't spill your wine on the way down.

-Very important!

And then this is my sensory walkway,

with stepping stones running through, down to your seating area.

Charlie has left the existing patio untouched,

while the brothers have gone one step further

and framed their extended patio with a retaining dry-stone wall.

The stone wall is actually a key feature in this design,

and not only does it create this lovely structure

around the seating space, but also it incorporates these steps.

I would never even have thought about doing something like that.

And we'd bring the planting down into this lower space

so it still feels very much part of the garden.

What plants are going to be in there?

We'd like to introduce a few small trees and shrubs,

things like blackthorn, hawthorn,

and then this big bed of grasses and perennials will create

a lot of movement, attract the wildlife,

and it's basically like a bit of living artwork.

Harry and David have also incorporated a separate meadow area.

Planted with grasses and wild flowers,

this will be great for attracting butterflies,

but, when it comes to planting, Charlie's not to be outdone.

Plant-wise, delphiniums and thistles and peonies...

You can put a lot of annuals in,

which are going to be great for the wildlife,

things like wheat and grasses, which the birds are going to love.

And, then, to pick up on the English theme,

we've got simple arches

covered with lots of different climbers.

Very silent. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not!

-It's absolutely...

-I think it's fabulous, yeah.

-I'm amazed.

Charlie has stuck to the brief with her traditional English design,

and Jane and Michael certainly seem happy.

Will this be an easy win for Charlie

or will the Rich brothers' clean geometric lines

and their emphasis on that important view steal her thunder?

It's time to decide.

It's like Charlie's really done exactly what we've asked her to do.

We've got this curvaceous garden with beautiful planting.

Well, that went pretty well for us, I feel.

-How did it go for you, Charlie?

-Yeah, loved the plants.

-What did you go for?

-Oh, lots of really glamorous cottage plants.

And the Rich brothers have come at it from a totally different angle,

but I can imagine us entertaining here.

We focused completely on that bottom area.

I didn't change the bottom area at all!

-That's interesting.

-Well, I hope they don't choose yours.

-Why not?

-All that groundwork! All that soil moving!

I think, if I'm going to have to work for you,

I'm going to make sure I twist my ankle that day!

So, will it be the Rich brothers' modern, straight lines,

extended patio and wild flower meadow,

or Charlie's English country garden with meandering paths

and colourful, traditional planting?

-Hello.

-Hello!

-Good afternoon.

Now, this was a really, really, really difficult decision.

We've had a good look at both designs and, er...

We've decided on...

Ta-da!

-BROTHERS CHEER

-Stamp on my foot now!

LAUGHTER

Amazing! How come you went for ours?

Oh, you've just come up with ideas that we'd never have dreamt of.

The walled garden with the steps within it,

we thought was just really clever.

And that bigger space, I think that...

I can see why you went for the boys' design,

cos I didn't change that bottom area at all,

and that will just make it a bigger space away from the house,

so I can... And you'll appreciate the view so much more.

-Thanks, Charlie!

-I'm not doing any work!

-I'm just going to look.

-Are you feeling all right?

LAUGHTER

The brothers are thrilled,

but they're going to have to keep Charlie out of hospital

if she's going to help with this one!

They'll need all the hands and feet they can get to pull this off.

It's early morning in the Somerset countryside...

..and the landscaping team are here to clear the garden.

The Rich brothers are off sourcing the shrubs and grasses

for their design, so they've given Scott, Scott, Seb,

and the project manager Bonnie the unenviable task of excavating

the extra patio area at the bottom of the garden,

but, first, they need to remove the old retaining wall.

That's been really well built, hasn't it?

-That's going to be fun.

-What we might need to do

is dig from the other side and then lift the sleepers out.

Yeah, take the sleepers out,

-then we'll probably have to grind these off, I'd imagine.

-Yeah.

The existing path is about 1.5 metres wide,

but needs to be double the size.

The steep slope makes it unsafe to use a digger,

so it'll all have to be done by hand,

and removing all that soil is proving an uphill battle.

Come on, Scott, you can do it!

I'm going to be disappointed if I have to help you.

Oh, he's struggling, he's struggling!

Come on, come on!

Whoa!

The soil just keeps on coming,

so Bonnie comes up with a plan to re-use more of it in the garden.

With all this soil, do you think we could make a step

-and back-fill it in there?

-I think that's a really good idea, actually.

Bonnie wants to create a step in the path as it leads down from the deck,

using soil to build up the top section and make it less of a slope,

but will the Rich brothers agree?

LINE RINGS

-'Hello?'

-Hi, David, it's Bonnie.

-'Oh, hey, Bonnie.'

We've got too much soil and we could possibly use some of

the sleepers and actually create a little step down.

Do you think that would work?

Cos it would help us get rid of some of the soil.

'Yeah, very happy with that. Yeah, go ahead.'

-Thanks, David.

-'No worries. Bye-bye.'

-Bye!

With the thumbs-up from the bosses,

at least some of that soil can be re-homed.

Out front, the materials have arrived for the dry-stone wall.

Not exactly a gentle landing, but at least they do need broken stones.

With the big dig completed,

a new retaining wall goes in to stop the rest of the lawn

crashing down the hill.

These concrete blocks are strong enough to retain the weight,

but will be concealed behind the dry-stone wall.

Work is progressing well, and David, Harry and Charlie arrive on site.

-Oh, wow, doesn't that look different?

-Yeah, very different.

They've done really well, haven't they?

They have. That area down there looks really big.

Right, I'm off home, then!

-No, Charlie, not yet!

-Not a chance.

It's incredible. Well, there are plenty of things to get done

in the garden - a path to build,

-we've got the stone walling to get on with.

-It's my day, isn't it?

But, at the moment, there's a large pile of soil over there,

and that's actually not part of our design

so we'll have to figure out what we're doing with it.

I'm not barrowing it up these stairs!

Well, you might be in luck, Charlie,

because the brothers want to use it to bring a feature

of the surrounding landscape into the garden.

Having soil left over like this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

A bit of sculpting, I think.

The landscape says it all, really, doesn't it?

Try and echo a bit of that.

What, the grassy knoll over there?

Bringing the grassy knoll into their garden?

-Yeah.

-Are we doing anything with this bit of...?

On my design, that was a beautiful, centred seat,

but they didn't choose my design.

-Do you want us to still do it, Charlie?

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

It's nice to have another kind of perch back in the garden.

-Different views.

-And then we could use this as a kind of...

Just to accentuate that curve and maybe a sit-soft area, lie back,

-look at the stars.

-So, you need to push that soil,

-you need to push that soil that way.

-I need a spade, do I?

-Yeah.

-Oh, what?

-And I will go and check it out with Jane and Michael.

-Lovely. Cheers, Charlie.

-Perfect.

While Charlie goes to fetch Jane and Michael,

Harry and David make a start on sculpting all that soil into a mound

which, in time, will become the couple's very own grassy knoll.

So, this area here, the boys reckon that I can do my seat.

You know, in my design that you didn't choose?

-Oh, yes.

-Yes.

-Not that I'm bitter!

-Don't be bitter!

-LAUGHTER

I think we remember it, vaguely.

So, what I'm hoping to do, and the boys think it's a good idea,

is I make that into a scented seat that you can perch,

and the boys are sculpting the soil around here so that this will be

a much more enclosed seating area

that you look at the beautiful garden.

That's just amazing.

-I'm so pleased, because I was really bereft about the...

-The seat?

-Yeah.

-You've made my wife a very happy lady.

-Good, good.

Well, I'm hoping you're going to make her very happy as well

and take her away for a lovely lunch.

Well, I'm sure we can manage that.

Because it's time that you, sort of,

leave the house so we can get on with the garden.

-Lovely. How exciting.

-All right?

-Thank you very much.

-Let's go.

-Cheers.

-Should be all done by the time you come back.

-Lovely. Thank you.

-Cheers.

-She says, smiling!

-LAUGHTER

So, it's a yes to the seat,

which will provide another place where they can enjoy that view,

which should keep the couple - and Charlie - happy.

A well-designed garden will not only enhance the views,

but frame them in the best way possible,

and, if you get this right, the benefits can be spectacular.

Set on the edge of the rolling Cotswold Hills,

one of the best views in the region can be seen

from historic Kiftsgate Court Garden in Chipping Campden,

which has been in Anne Chambers's family for three generations.

We have a spectacular view.

I think, on a clear day, you can see about 50 or 60 miles.

Framing the view, we have these very old pines,

these radiata pines and Scots pines,

which we doctor and cut the branches every year so that you can see

through the pine trees out into the landscape beyond.

When you do a garden, you want something a bit different,

but you also want it to flow, so the garden looks as though

it naturally goes into the countryside,

which I think is very nice,

so you sort of envelop the countryside into the garden.

Framing the view doesn't have to be limited to expansive vistas.

In other gardens, a favourite tree or sculpture

are framed using hedges...

arches...

or walkways.

Just as an artist frames a painting,

the views in a garden can be enhanced by blocking out

undesirable distractions and directing the eye to focus on

a scene's most striking features.

Alternatively, obscuring all or part of a view so that it isn't

immediately on display will provide visitors

with a pleasant surprise as they turn a corner

and discover something unexpected.

The brothers have incorporated their own surprise element

into their design. At the top of the garden,

Jane and Michael's sunken patio will be obscured from the few

by the perennial planting beds.

Only as they approach the steps will the patio be revealed.

Back in the garden,

Charlie's cracking on with her own unexpected task.

This is my willow hurdle that I'm going to use

as the front face of the bench to make a wall.

Quick and easy and bendy, hopefully.

Oh, look at that!

-Yep.

-Looking good, isn't it?

-It is.

That's got to be up, level,

so we're going to dig in a bit, I think.

Yeah, like that.

Front of the seat.

We're going to whip that off there. Yeah? Does it make sense?

-I think it does.

-It makes "fence"!

It makes "fence"!

Oh... Get back to your sculpting of soil!

That's told him.

Who's meant to be in charge of this garden?

In the patio, the ugly concrete blocks

are disappearing behind natural stone,

sourced from the local quarry.

This is being laid to form the dry-stone wall,

which will not only make an attractive feature,

but will fit perfectly into the rural setting.

The sunken area at the moment is coming on really well

and the guys are dressing it with a local limestone,

which is going to give that lovely dry-stone-wall effect.

Me and Dave use stone a lot in our designs

and especially stone walling.

It's got a lovely natural appearance

and it adds that lovely bit of depth to the garden.

Also, this limestone depicts the local area

and what's so nice is it forges this connection

between the garden and the landscape.

But because it's a natural product, each stone is unique,

which is very difficult to use

and creating a stone wall is a real craft,

but with that you get something very special.

On the other side of the garden,

landscaper Scott is constructing Bonnie's extra step,

which will make that slope easier to navigate.

He's repurposing some old sleepers from the original retaining walls

and he's not the only one putting these to good use.

So, originally, retaining the seating area down the bottom,

there was a lot of these sleepers,

so we've replaced them with a lovely dry-stone wall.

So, what we're going to do is create a lovely length of deck,

which creates a lovely spot in the garden to sit.

Timber!

The deck in the midst of the meadow area will provide Jane and Michael

with yet another place to sit.

They'll have no excuse not to get out into the garden

once the brothers have finished!

I want it to be about that height-ish...

At the top of the garden,

Charlie and Scott are measuring out the frame for her seat.

Measure that.

I will measure that there.

That is 22... A foot, basically.

How long have we been in the metric system?

LAUGHTER

The willow hurdle needs cutting to the right size,

and then can be attached to posts at either end.

Charlie, it's looking good, but it looks a little high.

No, no, no. It's bum height,

so it's going to go down a little lower...

-That's perfect, actually.

-Yeah.

So, yeah, it's going to come down a bit.

It's looking gorgeous, though. I think this will link really nicely

-with the shrubs, with the plants.

-Yeah, and picking up

natural products using natural stone,

-natural hurdles.

-Love it.

-I'm getting really carried away.

I might even put a back up there as well.

Oh, that'd be really nice!

The garden is beginning to come together,

but building a dry-stone wall can be a tricky and time-consuming job,

so the boys have brought in specialist Neil

to get this done quickly and correctly.

And, because Harry has some experience in this field,

he'll be helping out, too.

-Hi, Neil.

-Hi.

-This is looking great.

-Oh, thanks.

I used to do a bit of stone walling back in Wales,

and I know it's a tricky art.

It is. It is tricky.

It takes years of practice.

And it is an art form.

There's a saying -

"If you pick up one stone, you've got to find a home for it."

-No waste.

-That's right.

If it doesn't go on here, then you find somewhere else on the wall.

-Yeah.

-So, yeah, "There's a home for every stone."

Yeah, that's the one! You don't mind if I crack on at the end, do you?

No, go ahead.

In the meadow area, David is cutting his timber to size.

Definitely looking forward to this, but they're quite difficult to cut.

That's my excuse anyway.

Reclaimed sleepers like these can cost around £60,

but brand-new ones will only set you back about half that.

Thanks to the old retaining wall, these ones were free.

Just persevere. Two hands.

Project manager Bonnie is marking out where the turf will be lifted

to make way for the brothers' path.

To speed the process along, they're using a motorised turf cutter,

which can cost around £50 a day to hire.

Dream. Easy.

Perfect. So this now is going to give a nice little seating area -

sit behind some shrubs, amongst the planting,

just a lovely place to look at the view.

David has nearly finished the decking

and Charlie has popped over to inspect his handiwork.

-It's going to be lovely.

-Well, hopefully.

One chair, book, look at the view.

-Perfect.

-Alone time.

-Yeah, exactly.

-There will be so many seats in this garden

that they ain't going to do any gardening,

they're just going to be sit there, sit there, sit there...

It's like a park, there's so many places to sit!

Seating is an important part of any garden,

and most sitting places are located in the sunniest area.

But if yours is open to the elements,

it should be in a more protected position.

Useful seating isn't limited to benches or chairs.

Any flat surface will work.

When it comes to design and style,

the only restriction is your own imagination.

In steep gardens,

any resting areas will be especially welcome on the way up the slope,

but any seats on uneven surfaces

should be safely fixed to the ground.

However, the most important thing about a seating area is the view,

and the new sunken patio will be the perfect place

for Jane and Michael to enjoy theirs from.

Unlike cemented walls,

a dry-stone wall is made by stacking stones

without using mortar to hold them together.

By choosing the stones carefully and packing them tightly,

a dry-stone wall can be completely self-supporting

and last hundreds of years.

Apart from looking great, this wall will provide an excellent habitat

for rock plants and insects alike.

The great thing about dry-stone walls is,

it creates all these little cracks and crevices for wildlife,

and it's a great little space just to encourage that.

And, over time, it's going to grow moss and lichen, and, again,

that's really, kind of, encouraging more wildlife in here,

and it'll soften the wall

and it'll become part of the fabric of the garden.

So, how goes it in the dry-stone walling world?

-Very well.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

-So, Neil, when he graduates, does he get a hat like this?

-He can have my hat.

-Shall we see what it looks like?

Wow, that's a tight fit, isn't it?

I've graduated.

-That's put ten years on you, mate.

-Oh, I can feel the power already!

Now, I'm not here just to chit-chat.

-I'm on the scrounge.

-You're always on the scrounge.

-Yeah, that big bit of stone...

-I was saving that one for you.

Oh, thank you, that's good.

So, steal a few bits like that...

But, yeah, not bad, not bad.

So, with my acquired bits of stone...

we're going to create...

..a jigsaw effect. So, like that...

Oh, no.

That's a nicer side.

And then we'll have another one there, there, there, there.

Leaving gaps.

So that'll make the surface to sit on, and plants all around.

And look at everybody who's doing absolutely nothing.

How many men does it take to build a dry-stone wall?

Charlie, it's really important to step back

and have a look at what you've just done.

Tea break over, the lads are breaking ground on the planting beds.

The two Scotts are using simple timber edging

to hold the path in place.

Ready-to-assemble edging kits are available to buy

in a range of colours and materials.

The boys have chosen wood to fit in well

with all the other natural elements in the garden.

And, speaking of nature,

it's time for David to get some of it into the ground,

and he's starting with the contorted hazel,

which should go down well with Michael.

So, this is the exciting part of the garden now,

where the plants start coming in,

and this part of the garden is reserved for the shrubs,

so we want to focus the view down to the landscape,

but also help to blur out some of the buildings here on the left.

One plant that Michael's really particular about

was the contorted hazel, and you can see why, cos, without the leaves,

you can really see these twisted, gnarled stems,

and it makes a really interesting shrub.

And what's so great is that it is quite slow growing,

so it's not going to grow too big and block out the view,

but it'll work perfectly in this situation.

With a contorted hazel, you will have to keep an eye on it,

because it's grafted onto the rootstock of a standard hazel,

and that means that straight shoots will come up through the middle,

so you've got to keep an eye, cut them off,

and that means that the twisted, more gnarled ones will keep growing.

It's best practice to plant shrubs when they're smaller

if they're in windier conditions.

That means they'll have a better chance of establishing

and growing well.

As well as the contorted hazel, we've also got a standard hazel,

and that's Corylus avellana.

And what's so great about this is, you can coppice it,

you can cut it down at the base,

and that means if it ever grows too tall,

you just chop it down and you let it regrow,

and that means it's going to be a healthier shrub.

As well as preventing a tree from growing too tall,

coppicing will encourage regeneration

and make the plant appear fuller.

The motte layer for the paths is finally going down

and Charlie's nearly finished her seat.

She just needs to add the finishing touches.

So, we've got plants that really like sunny conditions,

so this is a rock rose, a double one.

The great thing about having a double rock rose

is the flowers last way longer than the single ones.

Then we've got this erodium,

and it sort of has a floppy habit to it,

so it'll soften that wall at the back.

Big, pink, open flowers, so I'm thinking up there somewhere.

And, then, for the scent, we've got this rosemary,

and that one's a prostrate one, which means it sort of tumbles,

so it'll tumble over this corner, so as they walk down the steps,

they'll knock against it and get the scent.

And then I'm going to squash some thymes in.

Originally, I did say that I was going to use camomile,

but I've gone for thymes,

because they're really good for bees and butterflies

and it'll pick up the wildlife planting

that David's doing over there.

This is sedum Autumn Joy,

and what's so nice is, it's actually recycled from the original garden,

so it's lovely to be able to put them back in the new beds.

We've left the seed heads up as well, because I think what's so nice

about these is, it gives amazing winter form

and when the grasses are long and left as well,

this garden's going to have lovely interest in the winter.

Look out, lads - Charlie's on the scrounge again.

So, I'm almost finished, but I really need an evergreen there.

And they've got them all.

Harry!

Don't try and ignore me! I saw you pretend you didn't hear me!

I'm after an evergreen.

-OK.

-Is that... So I can have one?

-Yeah, of course.

You don't have to ask, Charlie.

-OK, then.

-Take whatever you want!

-They won't say that later.

-You're in danger!

Let's hope the brothers don't regret their generosity.

I might take two, actually.

Oh, yeah.

Maybe a hellebore.

Hey! How many have you got in there?

A couple more than one.

LAUGHTER

So, I'm thinking...

That'll fill up that space.

-Nice.

-Nice. I mean, you wouldn't like that daphne anyhow,

cos it's variegated.

-Don't worry about it, have it.

-So, I'm thinking that might be nice...

-Just over the fence?

-No.

Just down there, leading into your meadow,

cos that's going to be meadow, isn't it?

-Yes, going to seed that up.

-So that'll just give me an evergreen...

Yeah. Really scented.

And then I couldn't resist the hellebore, cos it's too pretty.

-No problem at all.

-Don't know where I'm going to put it,

but I'll get it in there somewhere!

While Charlie gets her pilfered plants in,

David is putting the final touches to the meadow.

Wild flower meadow seed is a really easy, really cost-effective way

of adding a lot of interest to the garden.

What we've got here is a grass and wild flower mix,

so it's going to add a really lovely, natural element

into the garden, and what's so great about this is,

it thrives on poorer soils.

You don't have to add manure, you don't have to have the topsoil.

It'll do really, really well and, actually, poorer soil will help

the flowers take over rather than the grass dominating the space.

And a little trick when sowing, if you've got a small space like this,

you don't have to worry too much about it.

You want to make sure you just put out a thin layer on top,

and then you can just go back over it.

This little area of the garden's really going to transform this summer.

When the shrubs come into leaf and the meadow starts growing,

all the flowers will come out and the grasses will thread through it,

and that's so nice, because it's actually going to tie in

with our perennial planting beds over here.

There are three different types of grasses in these beds.

This one here is the pheasant tail grass.

As you can see, it's really pretty, because the tint of the leaves

picks up really nicely with the gravel.

What's so great about this is it will spread and it will take over,

which means it might self-seed in the gravel as well,

so it'll really create this meadow-like effect

with the perennials poking out through.

As you can see, the planting's really beginning to take shape,

so all we've got to do is get the garden finished.

And, with the weather on the turn,

the team had better get a move on

so Jane and Michael can see their new garden before the rain hits.

Before they called in Charlie and the Rich brothers,

Jane and Michael's garden was an unloved, boring and barely used hill

that the family had outgrown.

Now it's been given a new lease of life with a £3,000 makeover.

At the heart of the design is the extended sunken patio,

where the couple can spend many a relaxing evening

basking in the setting sun.

Sheltered from the elements by the locally sourced dry-stone wall -

which cost a total of £502 -

the patio area blends naturally with the rural setting

whilst following clean, geometric lines.

The brothers have repositioned Jane and Michael's chiminea,

whilst a chunky table that has been gathering dust in the garage

now has a new home.

But, of course, it's not the only place to sit and enjoy

those glorious views.

The brothers have spent £75

on the materials and plants for Charlie's rustic seat.

It will be a perfect place for a morning coffee

surrounded by beautiful rock roses

and fragrant thyme and rosemary to excite the senses.

In a few months' time,

the garden will be awash with colour and fragrance.

The boys spent £103 on three types of ornamental grasses

planted either side of the new path.

But more form and structure is provided free of charge

by Jane's existing sedums.

The meadow area features a recycled sleeper deck

and the tall grasses and wild flowers

will provide a haven for birds, bees and butterflies in the future.

And not forgetting not one, but two contorted hazels, which cost £46.

Jane and Michael had dreamed of a quintessential English garden.

But, at the last minute,

opted for the Rich brothers' clean and minimal contemporary design.

-(Here they come!)

-As it starts to drizzle,

it's time to find out if their gamble has paid off.

-Are you excited?

-Yes!

I think we're excited.

LAUGHTER

OK, open your eyes.

-Wow.

-Oh, my gosh.

-It's absolutely spot-on.

-Oh, fantastic. Isn't that amazing?

-Is it what you expected?

-No!

-It's actually better.

It's...it's exceeded my expectations!

-That's a win!

-We can rest easy!

-I just want to get down there.

-Well, hey, it's your garden.

-Go ahead!

-Let's go.

Get ready to step onto the path.

-There we go.

-Just makes it a lot more usable, doesn't it?

-It looks great.

-We put a step in as well.

-That's super.

Right, then, which way?

The idea then is to, kind of, dogleg to the left,

just between the two planting beds.

-That's super.

-All of these will knit together and you'll have

this lovely, natural planting scheme.

-That's my corkscrew hazel!

-There's your corkscrew hazel!

Really pleased about that one.

We put that at the front as well, so you could really see it.

He likes his twisted hazel.

And he's got two, so he'll be doubly excited.

So, there's meadow seed down there, all through there,

so in the summer that will grow up.

-Lovely.

-All green and natural.

Lovely. So, you don't want me to weed it, then?

-Don't you dare!

-Don't touch it!

-LAUGHTER

All right, head on down the steps.

-There we go.

-The dry-stone wall.

That is amazing, isn't it?

It looks so fabulous.

Doesn't it add a nice character to it?

It's just unbelievable.

It's depictive of this local area.

-It's nice to have a little bit of that in your garden.

-Beautiful.

Oh, they love that area down the bottom.

I can see them spending a lot of time there.

It's so nice, just giving you that extra bit of space down here.

It really makes it a lot more usable.

It's just beautiful.

We've got something else to see as well.

We've got Charlie's little spot up here. We can't forget about that!

And now my bit.

How exciting!

-How's that?

-Gosh.

I love it. Charlie's very clever.

-She is.

-She's a clever lady, isn't she?

They like my bench, that's a hit.

And I think the whole garden has gone down a storm.

The Rich brothers spotted Jane and Michael's love of timeless elegance

and gave them a garden to be proud of.

So, are the couple happy with their decision?

I just can't believe what they've done.

I can't wait till it's dry and I can go and sit over there

-and watch the sun rise.

-And all the flowers come out and it's all beautiful.

It's going to be a great summer.

It's even better than we thought it would be.

It's given us more space.

I mean, I know we saw the plans, but, actually, to see it

in real life, it is more stunning and just...

It's just perfect for us.

This dry-stone wall just blends in so well.

And when all these scented plants are at their height in the summer...

At last, I've got my corkscrew hazel in place.

-Yes!

-Here's to you, doing the gardening.

-Thank you. Cheers.

-Cheers.