Sussex Glorious Gardens from Above


Sussex

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Britain has some of the finest gardens anywhere in the world.

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For me, it's about getting in amongst the wonderful plants

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that flourish in this country

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and sharing the passion of the people who tend them.

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However, there is another way to enjoy a garden.

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And that's to get up above it.

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I love ballooning

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because you get to see the world below in a whole new light.

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From up here, you get a real sense of how the garden sits

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in the landscape, how the terrain and the climate

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has shaped it,

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and I want you to share that experience with me.

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I'm getting to ready to float high, high above a county

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blessed with some of the most stunning landscapes in Britain.

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Today, we're in Sussex, a county that's made up of chalky downlands,

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forested wields

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and some of the most heavily-populated coastal areas.

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Sussex lies right to the Southeast coast,

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bordered by Hampshire and Kent.

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What an amazing view.

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This is my chance to view wonderful Sussex

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as I've never seen it before.

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Sussex is officially

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the sunniest county in England,

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and that's why this part of Sussex

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has some fantastic gardens.

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Today, I'm dropping in on two magnificent gardens,

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both of which have undergone a transformation.

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-This was the visitors' car park.

-The car park?

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It was just concrete and tarmac.

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That's amazing.

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And they have the power to change the lives of the people

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who tend them.

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When I came, I ended up meeting my now fiance, so...

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-Ahh.

-He's a full-time gardener here in the gardens.

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We'll be exploring this country's earliest formal garden

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and finding out how the Romans

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transformed British gardening forever.

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And, of course, I'll be lending a hand too.

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-Looks like a hairnet, mate.

-THEY LAUGH

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I won't say what it reminds me of.

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Go on. Go on. Up you go, lad.

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-Wahey!

-Oh, that's enough.

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Sussex might be sunny but,

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here in the foothills of the South Downs,

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the land is deluged with over 40 inches of rain a year.

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Fortunately, the chalk soil allows water to drain through it quickly,

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meaning plant roots never get soggy and gardens can flourish,

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none more so than the first garden I'm dropping in on.

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West Dean is renowned the world over

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as a showcase that can inspire any gardener,

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and it lies seven miles north of Chichester.

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There's been an estate here since the 17th century,

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but the 90 acres of garden and parkland we see today

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took shape at the start of the 19th century.

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North of the manor house, which is now a college,

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almost half of the garden is devoted to arboretum.

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It was planted in the 1830s and is filled with mature beech,

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horse chestnut and cedar trees,

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as well as rhododendrons and azaleas.

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I won't have time to take a stroll through it today

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but I know one place I'll definitely have a saunter.

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Just south of the arboretum

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is one of the garden's most remarkable features,

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a 300-foot-long Edwardian pergola running across the lawn.

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It looks spectacular from up here.

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I can't wait to see it close up.

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When viewed from above, West Dean Gardens really comes alive.

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You can see the intense amount of care

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that goes into that productive garden.

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The greenhouses, the straight lines of vegetables,

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the fiery borders,

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and I just can't wait to get down there.

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Surprisingly, the garden hasn't always looked this wonderful.

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In 1987, a great storm hit the south of England.

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With ferocious power, it smashed and uprooted millions of trees.

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West Dean had to be closed for a year just to recover.

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I've been visiting West Dean Gardens for the last 30 years

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and have seen them grow.

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This garden speaks of horticultural excellence,

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and it's not just in this beautiful, productive vegetable garden.

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The pergola, the wild garden, the arboretum,

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the execution of excellence in this garden is outstanding.

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It makes me tingle every single time I come

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because, to see that level, is wildly exciting

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and is a standard that we should hope to attain -

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beauty, excellence and magic.

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But beauty, excellence and magic don't happen in gardening by chance.

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23 years ago,

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a couple arrived to inspire a bold restoration that transformed

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these 19th-century gardens into a 21st-century masterpiece.

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Garden supervisor Sarah Wain

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arrived here with a, "G'day," from Australia

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and a passion to make these gardens bloom again.

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-Hi, Sarah.

-Hello, Christine.

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-How are you?

-I'm very well, thanks.

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-How nice to see you.

-And you too. Welcome to West Dean.

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Well, great pleasure to be back. Now, what are you doing there?

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I'm tying in these tomatoes

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so that they scramble all the way up the wigwam.

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Right, and is this just one plant, then?

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No, it's more than one - it's three.

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-It's really just an experiment.

-OK.

-Looks good, I think.

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It does look good, yeah. Can I give you a hand?

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-Yeah sure.

-Tying and sort of doing things.

-Got a knife?

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-Yeah, I've got a knife, no string, though.

-Here's some string.

-Great.

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OK, so you're just doing standard tying in and not really tight.

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Yeah. Just onto the structure or the string here.

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So, how did you actually get into gardening, Sarah?

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Well, I suppose through my parents.

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I'm Australian. We had quite a big garden, my dad did the veg,

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my mum did the flowers.

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How did you get into the UK?

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Legally.

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-THEY LAUGH

-Yeah, we know. Well, hopefully.

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How did I... I came over in 1979

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-and I was lucky enough to get a job at Kew Gardens.

-A job?

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-Yeah.

-Great. So, had you trained in Aussie?

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I had yes, yeah. I did a three-year diploma.

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And how did you find Kew?

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I would say Kew was like doing another three years of education...

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because there are a lot of knowledgeable people there

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and, funnily enough, it's also where I met my husband.

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-Really?

-Yes.

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'Jim, Sarah's other half, is head gardener at West Dean,

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'and he's also Sarah's boss.' We were just talking about you.

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It's hot work nattering, so I thought I'd bring you a cup of tea.

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That's very kind of you.

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Mmm.

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What I want to know, since I've got you together - do you squabble?

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Do we squabble?

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Daily? Yes, daily.

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THEY LAUGH

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But we always make up by the end of the day.

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What's the vision for the garden? You know, you've got this

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level of excellence, people come expecting it to look superb.

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How are you going to move it on? How are you going to develop that?

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Our strapline at one point was,

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"High-class horticulture in an historic setting."

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-OK.

-Which, we kind of felt, was what we wanted to do, really.

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We've taken something which was rather tired

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and rather run down

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and made it into... Well, I feel a bit embarrassed saying this,

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but I think it is a bit of a showpiece now.

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It is a showpiece and, when I think of West Dean, I think of excellence.

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Well, that's a nice compliment from an old pro like yourself.

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I mean that nicely.

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-You mean old or pro?

-THEY LAUGH

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And, like the old pro I am,

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I'm off to help Sarah in one of West Dean's star attractions.

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The Victorian glasshouses.

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She's got a job for me

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that that I used to do with an old bit of hosiery.

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-This is the melon house, Christine.

-Wow, look at this lot.

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They're great, aren't they?

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Wow. Look at the quality of these leaves.

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Normally, they look quite manky.

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-They are spectacular, Sarah.

-That's the right reaction, Christine.

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Wow. Now then, come on, I know you want me to help you tie them

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but, being a shorty, I'm going to have to step up

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-cos I can't reach otherwise.

-Poor girl.

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Great.

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We're just going to support some of these fruits.

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I used to use tights or stockings in the old days.

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-Right.

-And, as the fruit grew, they actually expand with them,

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so this is... This looks like a hair net, mate.

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I won't say what that reminds me of.

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-SHE LAUGHS

-Go on. Now, go on,

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tell me about these fantastic greenhouses.

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I mean, it's an amazing range.

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I can't believe for two minutes,

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when you came to this garden, they were in good nick.

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No, they hadn't had any money invested in them

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for a number of years.

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And when we came 23 years ago,

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they were in a state of dereliction

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and we were given the opportunity to renovate them all.

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And how many do you have?

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We have 13.

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13 glasshouses of different styles. So, we've got three vineries,

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two fig houses,

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three devoted to tomatoes.

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We grow aubergines, chillies - most importantly,

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and we have several display houses

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for growing things like fuchsias, ferns,

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pelargoniums, tropicals, bromeliads.

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You know, you name it, we grow it.

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Glasshouses like these at West Dean didn't come cheap.

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In the early 19th century, glass had a huge tax imposed on its sale.

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And, in a double whammy,

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you paid a property tax based on how many windows your home had.

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It was a tax on light and air in all but name.

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By the 1850s, those hated taxes had disappeared.

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Landowners, grown rich from the Industrial Revolution

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and the expansion of the British Empire,

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had the wealth to build greenhouses

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and fill them with fashionable, exotic plants

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or extend the growing season of our own fruit and vegetables.

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With Victorian innovation and engineering,

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glasshouses grew both larger and smaller.

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As Sir Joseph Paxton was building the Crystal Palace in London...

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..Victorian manufacturers were making plain and functional

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self-assembly glasshouses

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for the increasing demand of the rising middle classes.

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Whether you were growing an exotic pineapple in your glasshouse

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or a humble tomato in your greenhouse,

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the Victorians finally let the light shine through.

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They are wonderful documents, in a sense,

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of the importance of late-Victorian horticulture

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and the work that was done by the pioneers of that time.

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Well, it's such a treat and this is how we used to do it,

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and that relationship between a person understanding

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not only the horticultural requirements

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but the engineering skills that brought it all together.

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I mean, gardeners are awesome beasts and I really believe it.

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You know, not only can we grow

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but we have to be able to control our environment,

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we have to understand about ventilation,

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we have to understand about heating, we have to able to maintain it,

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we have to know about boilers, we have to know about torque pressures,

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and you're passing on those skills to younger gardeners.

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It's a privilege to be able to work in this sort of environment,

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I recognise that.

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And also, it's a privilege to able to hand those skills on.

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It's one of the things I love to do.

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Come on, let's see what we can do.

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Sarah's so right.

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It's so important to pass down our gardening knowledge

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to the next generation so they can be inspired

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to leave their mark on our horticultural landscape.

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And that's just what's happening over on the Sussex coast

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in Brighton.

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All right, folks, unload the tools and we'll take it up to the site.

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Young volunteers for the Sussex Wildlife Trust have been

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transforming this once-neglected green space on the Craven estate

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into a flourishing community garden to encourage local wildlife.

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But, even though it's wild, it still needs a little taming

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from time to time.

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If we could open up quite a nice, big area here,

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we'll then take some of the topsoil off

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and we can use that as our area to plant

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the tray of flowers that I've got there.

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The head man leading the Youth Rangers today is Huw Morgan.

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We carry out a wide variety of practical conservation tasks

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on sites around the city,

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and that can be anything from gardening for wildlife

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that we're doing today, to putting up dormouse boxes,

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clearing out ponds, improving pathways,

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whatever really, so, a wide variety of activities.

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This can come out, the rosebay willow herb,

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cos that has a tendency to take over,

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so they can be pulled...pulled up as well.

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-Huw.

-Hello.

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I've got some netting over here.

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What do you want done?

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Uh, OK, I wouldn't...I wouldn't worry about that.

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That's a bit of old weed matting.

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I think it'll probably be easier to work with it there.

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Rather than trying to pull it up, we can cut into it

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and plant through it if we need to.

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OK.

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This is an area where it's sort of been overtaken

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by this long, rank grass

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that just takes over everything and no flowers can grow.

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So we're cutting back the grass and clearing the topsoil here

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so we can mix it up and plant some wild flowers which we've got,

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sort of some native, wild flower species.

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It's really great fun and people are all really nice.

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It's just a fun thing to get out and do in the sunshine

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like this, and it's also conservation work,

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which is what I've always sort of been into.

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So, yeah, it's really great fun. Love it.

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It's nice to see an area that the community's going to be able to use

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again cos it just looked kind of like an overgrown mess when we

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arrived in the morning, so it's really nice to see it

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really coming together.

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By no means do all the volunteers

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come from a horticultural background.

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In some cases, the day job can even come in handy.

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I'm normally a mobile hairdresser.

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My hair clients are always quite surprised

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that I do this on the side

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cos it is something completely different to

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the beauty, fashion industry.

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Mainly, what I get out of it is

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just knowing that I'm helping out, really,

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helping reserve little nature reserves around Brighton.

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It's just quite a rewarding thing, nice for the community,

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it's benefitting lots of people.

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Some of the volunteers can remember what the wildlife garden looked like

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before all their hard work.

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The area has really transformed since I've lived here.

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For instance, all the orchard, growing of the trees,

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the wildlife areas.

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Over the last six years, it's massively transformed.

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Last job of the day is planting some wild flowers to attract those

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all-important bees and butterflies.

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All right, fantastic effort today, everybody. It looks brilliant.

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Really, really good.

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I'm really pleased with what we've done on a very, very hot day,

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so thank you all very much.

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THEY APPLAUD Lovely.

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It's so inspiring to see a new generation

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taking their first horticultural steps.

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And just like at the Craven estate,

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Sarah and Jim have introduced a wild garden to West Dean.

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It's a beautiful spot with swaths of grasses,

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cowslips and meadow flowers, all attracting local wildlife.

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The alliums in particular are loved by the butterflies.

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Alliums, also known as ornamental onions,

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are grown for their showy flower heads,

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which come in a range of sizes.

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Colours vary, but most range between purple, lilac and white.

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Planted in the autumn, they should pop up and bloom the following year

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but, even when they've lost their flowers,

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they're still a stunning architectural feature.

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They look their best when they're planted throughout a border...

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..where they stick up like lollipops.

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I'm meeting someone rather special here in the wild garden,

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one of West Dean's large team of volunteers.

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So, Laura, how long have you known the garden?

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I first came here when I was a teenager

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and, since then, have been revisiting off and on pretty

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much all the time, with a slight break when I was at university.

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Has it changed much over the years?

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Hugely. The first time I came is probably five years in

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to when Jim and Sarah had arrived and started doing

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all the restoration work in the walled garden.

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And then this part, the wild garden, the spring garden,

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the sunken garden, that's all sort of ten years in.

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They were really sort of pushing out and building up the garden

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and it's just a complete transformation.

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But, just as people can transform a garden,

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a garden can transform the lives of those who love it.

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Only a few years ago, Laura was a City high-flyer in London.

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I ended up doing a law degree first of all

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and came to the end of that and decided I didn't want to be a lawyer

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and didn't really have a plan B, as such,

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so tried out a few things

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and sort of, by accident, ended up in head-hunting,

0:18:110:18:14

which I certainly didn't envisage I would stay in for almost ten years

0:18:140:18:18

but those things happen.

0:18:180:18:19

Time passes and you kind of do what you do

0:18:190:18:22

and, suddenly, I sort of realised,

0:18:220:18:25

I don't think I want to do this for the rest of my working life.

0:18:250:18:27

I'd almost grown quite resentful of the whole travelling of the city,

0:18:270:18:32

just being sort of crushed and just the busyness and people everywhere.

0:18:320:18:36

With a yearning for green spaces,

0:18:360:18:38

Laura moved back to her Sussex roots and the countryside.

0:18:380:18:42

Revisiting childhood haunts like West Dean

0:18:420:18:44

provoked a strong reaction.

0:18:440:18:47

It was quite a guttural kind of feeling, just instinctive,

0:18:470:18:50

I should be in these kinds of places, not stuck in an office.

0:18:500:18:53

After that discovery, Laura began investigating

0:18:530:18:56

the idea of becoming a volunteer gardener.

0:18:560:18:59

So, how did you get to come here?

0:18:590:19:01

I was looking, really, to get some practical work experience,

0:19:010:19:04

and the first garden I wrote to was obviously here,

0:19:040:19:06

and asked Sarah if she'd possibly take me on and she said, "Yes."

0:19:060:19:09

-And do you think it's made you a better person?

-Um...

0:19:090:19:11

Calmer, more reflective?

0:19:110:19:14

I think it's made me, probably a truer version of myself.

0:19:140:19:17

I think I probably was trying to kind of live the city life

0:19:170:19:19

and do the city thing when I was in London,

0:19:190:19:21

now I certainly think I'm a much happier person doing this

0:19:210:19:25

than I could ever have been staying in London doing an office job.

0:19:250:19:28

It's been just a fantastic adventure, really,

0:19:280:19:30

and I hope it continues for many more years.

0:19:300:19:32

You see, because gardening's not just about cultivating plants,

0:19:320:19:35

it's about cultivating people.

0:19:350:19:37

Bring the two together, they grow and they bloom.

0:19:370:19:40

Absolutely right. My experience has certainly proved that,

0:19:410:19:45

and I would urge anyone who's even thinking about it

0:19:450:19:47

to make that step into it.

0:19:470:19:49

Now, it wasn't just plant knowledge you gained from this garden, was it?

0:19:490:19:54

-No. Rather amazingly, I met my now fiance here.

-Ahh.

0:19:540:19:58

So, he's a full-time gardener here in the gardens.

0:19:580:20:01

When did you first meet?

0:20:010:20:03

Well, I saw him the first day and I said, "Good morning,"

0:20:030:20:05

and then we ended up going out on our first date here,

0:20:050:20:08

actually, at the cafe for a tapas evening, three weeks later.

0:20:080:20:10

Three weeks?! You was in there pretty quick.

0:20:100:20:13

THEY LAUGH

0:20:130:20:14

And then, yeah, and the rest, as you say, is history.

0:20:140:20:16

We ended up, yeah, coming back and moving to Chichester in January.

0:20:160:20:19

Now, is it just plants that turns you on in the garden?

0:20:190:20:23

No, I think the wonderful thing here is the sort of back story

0:20:230:20:25

of the college, which was once a fantastic country home.

0:20:250:20:29

But the last person who lived here as a resident was Edward James,

0:20:290:20:32

who was hugely involved and very passionate about the arts.

0:20:320:20:35

In fact, he was a major friend of Dali

0:20:350:20:37

and kind of all the surrealist painters and artists.

0:20:370:20:39

So you have this sort of imbued through,

0:20:390:20:41

and going into the college where you have some incredibly wacky

0:20:410:20:44

and interesting pieces of art and interior design.

0:20:440:20:47

And things like the fibreglass trees

0:20:470:20:49

which he left in the garden, which are kind of his last stamp,

0:20:490:20:52

it's just amazing.

0:20:520:20:53

It kind of gives it that added quirkiness and interest

0:20:530:20:55

to the whole thing.

0:20:550:20:57

West Dean has given me

0:20:570:20:58

and many others so much pleasure over the years.

0:20:580:21:02

I want, somehow, to honour Laura and the other volunteers

0:21:020:21:05

for their hard work.

0:21:050:21:06

Heaven forbid, but if you was to leave and you was to place

0:21:070:21:10

a tribute here,

0:21:100:21:12

would it be a plant or would it be a piece of artwork?

0:21:120:21:15

I think I'd probably say a piece of artwork cos it would happily

0:21:150:21:18

link together the kind of history of the college

0:21:180:21:20

and Edward James' legacy and the garden as well.

0:21:200:21:23

It'd be really lovely to combine the two.

0:21:230:21:26

With this in mind, I've asked Jon Privett,

0:21:290:21:31

head of metalwork conservation here at West Dean College,

0:21:310:21:34

to make a tribute honouring the work of the Garden's volunteers.

0:21:340:21:38

I was really, really pleased to be asked to make

0:21:420:21:44

something for Laura to give to the gardens

0:21:440:21:46

and spent a bit of time racking my brains, really,

0:21:460:21:49

about what I could make for her.

0:21:490:21:52

I walked out for a tea break and saw the weather vane

0:21:520:21:55

on top of the clock tower outside and thought, that's it.

0:21:550:21:58

I like the way she's walking forwards,

0:22:030:22:06

it shows her kind of busy and in motion.

0:22:060:22:08

I took that and then put it on a computer and got a silhouette.

0:22:080:22:12

And then I can stick it onto a sheet of copper,

0:22:120:22:15

and what I'm going to do is just roughly cut out the main shape.

0:22:150:22:18

If anyone knows Laura, they'll be able to recognise her.

0:22:180:22:21

Just ten miles southwest of West Dean, as the crow flies,

0:22:300:22:33

is another Sussex garden which has undergone a transformation.

0:22:330:22:38

And, from the sky, the view is magnificent

0:22:380:22:41

Set high on a hill,

0:22:450:22:46

Arundel Castle simply commands the Sussex landscape.

0:22:460:22:50

Built at the end of the 11th century,

0:22:510:22:53

it's been the family home to the Dukes of Norfolk

0:22:530:22:56

and their ancestors for nearly 1,000 years.

0:22:560:22:58

Just across the road is another breathtaking building...

0:23:000:23:04

Arundel Cathedral.

0:23:040:23:06

But it's the castle gardens lying between these two magnificent

0:23:080:23:11

buildings that I've come to see today.

0:23:110:23:13

Like West Dean, Arundel has a sheltered

0:23:230:23:25

and traditional kitchen garden.

0:23:250:23:27

And, besides the glasshouses,

0:23:270:23:29

box-edged beds filled with bursts of hot colour, then tempered with cool.

0:23:290:23:33

This side of the garden is quite formal

0:23:360:23:38

and enclosed with shingle paths and hedging.

0:23:380:23:40

But as you head towards the chapel, it becomes much more open,

0:23:430:23:47

and there's another garden I've particularly come to see.

0:23:470:23:50

This is the stunning Collector Earl's Garden.

0:23:520:23:54

It's hard to imagine, but only eight years ago,

0:23:560:23:58

this entire space was covered in concrete.

0:23:580:24:02

The Duke of Arundel's archivist, John Robinson, is going

0:24:040:24:07

to fill me in on how this magical garden came into existence.

0:24:070:24:11

So when was this amazing garden opened, John?

0:24:120:24:16

It was opened in 2008.

0:24:160:24:18

And what was here before?

0:24:180:24:20

Ah! Well, this was the historic kitchen garden, but it was

0:24:200:24:23

given up, like so many of these gardens in country houses, after

0:24:230:24:27

the Second World War, and latterly this was the visitors car park.

0:24:270:24:31

-The car park?!

-It was just concrete and tarmac,

0:24:310:24:33

there wasn't a tree a bush or anything in it.

0:24:330:24:35

-Crikey!

-Just the outside brick walls.

0:24:350:24:38

That's amazing.

0:24:380:24:39

Hard surface throughout.

0:24:390:24:41

So what was the inspiration behind it?

0:24:410:24:43

Well, the history of the Howard family here.

0:24:430:24:46

There's somebody we call the Collector, Earl of Arundel

0:24:460:24:48

in the early 17th century,

0:24:480:24:50

and he had a garden, which we know a bit about because there are designs

0:24:500:24:54

by Inigo Jones, the great architect for gateways and pavilions, and in

0:24:540:24:58

the background of portraits, you have glimpses through into the garden.

0:24:580:25:02

So, on the basis of those few clues, it was decided to do

0:25:020:25:07

a sort of recreation of that garden.

0:25:070:25:10

-But it's imaginary, really.

-Yes.

-I mean, it's...you know.

0:25:100:25:12

-So it's Jacobean in style.

-Yep.

0:25:120:25:14

But how would you describe the layout of this garden?

0:25:140:25:17

Well, it's a formal garden because it's divided into enclosures,

0:25:170:25:21

by hedges and the big pergola across the middle

0:25:210:25:25

and then you've got very strong axes -

0:25:250:25:27

cross axes and the central axis and so on.

0:25:270:25:30

And what about the architecture? I mean, it's amazing architecture,

0:25:300:25:34

but what's the story behind that?

0:25:340:25:36

Well, it's partly buildings that we know existed, but they would

0:25:360:25:39

have been stone or brick or whatever in the garden. And the whole

0:25:390:25:42

point about this, it was all done in what's called green oak.

0:25:420:25:46

The thing about green oak is it's not...it doesn't mature, you know.

0:25:460:25:49

You cut it and you build it and then it goes this silvery grey

0:25:490:25:53

colour, and this gives it a slightly zany, naturalistic, organic quality.

0:25:530:25:58

But, you see, it's incredibly theatrical.

0:25:580:26:01

-Yep, yep.

-Just smacks Italy, to me.

0:26:010:26:05

I'm on the Isola Bella and I'm there on the northern Italian lakes.

0:26:050:26:09

I'm looking at theatre and drama and the heat of the sunshine.

0:26:090:26:14

It's Italy on the south coast.

0:26:140:26:15

That was the inspiration. I mean, he was a collector who went to

0:26:150:26:19

Italy in 1610. And when he came back, everybody sort of rather

0:26:190:26:22

joked that he'd gone native.

0:26:220:26:23

He spoke Italian, he liked Italian food, he ate snails.

0:26:230:26:27

-Ugh!

-Things like that, and you know and his garden was all 'al Italiano.'

0:26:270:26:32

-Yes.

-As they put it. So things like these urns are an Italian design.

0:26:320:26:36

I just think it's frankly, truly amazing.

0:26:360:26:39

The Collector Earl's fascination with all things Italiano

0:26:430:26:47

predates the Grand Tour that young,

0:26:470:26:49

upper-class men of means undertook in the 18th and 19th centuries.

0:26:490:26:53

Since then, Italian influences have been felt in art,

0:26:550:26:58

architecture and, of course, gardening.

0:26:580:27:01

But, an earlier Italian invasion has left its mark, too.

0:27:020:27:06

Just a few miles west of Chichester is Fishbourne Roman Palace,

0:27:090:27:13

home to the earliest formal garden in the country.

0:27:130:27:17

Archaeologists first unearthed this site in the 1960s

0:27:170:27:21

and, as well as the wonderful mosaics on the inside,

0:27:210:27:25

they also discovered how the palace garden was laid out.

0:27:250:27:29

And guess what?

0:27:290:27:30

Those Romans were very green-fingered,

0:27:300:27:34

as Fishbourne's Head of Learning, Katrina Burton, explains.

0:27:340:27:38

The Romans introduced gardening.

0:27:380:27:41

People in the Iron Age wouldn't have gardened for aesthetic pleasure.

0:27:410:27:45

The Romans, however, changed all that and they planted massive

0:27:450:27:48

formal gardens, using plants like this box hedge, actually, to really

0:27:480:27:53

make a statement about the fact that they were changing the landscape.

0:27:530:27:56

They had this control over nature,

0:27:560:27:59

and that's something that would have been completely alien to

0:27:590:28:01

those Iron Age Britons living here before the Romans arrived.

0:28:010:28:05

We know these hedges were planted in this way because of the

0:28:050:28:08

archaeological evidence, because those original excavations uncovered

0:28:080:28:12

the bedding trenches for these particular hedges, so we know they

0:28:120:28:15

were in this really ornate geometric pattern that you see down here.

0:28:150:28:19

So, it's the differences in the colours of the soil which really

0:28:190:28:24

indicated that there was something quite special about this garden.

0:28:240:28:28

It's thought the palace was inhabited by someone of high rank

0:28:290:28:33

called Togidubnus, who was a Celt loyal to the Roman Emperor.

0:28:330:28:38

Built on four sides around a central garden,

0:28:380:28:41

the site covered an area as big as two football pitches.

0:28:410:28:45

We know that he had these enormous gardens, these very

0:28:450:28:49

impressive gardens, and it would have taken a large number of slaves

0:28:490:28:52

just to keep them up to scratch. And we imagine that Togidubnus

0:28:520:28:57

was meeting very important people and he was really showing off his

0:28:570:29:00

wealth, his status, by the entrance way, by people coming through

0:29:000:29:05

these gardens as they came up to meet him in the audience chamber.

0:29:050:29:08

This is one of the tools they would have used here in the Roman gardens.

0:29:120:29:16

We've got a pair of replica iron shears,

0:29:160:29:18

and these would have been used for trimming the hedges.

0:29:180:29:21

And you can imagine trying to keep all these hedges under control here

0:29:210:29:24

at Fishbourne, would have required an army of slaves.

0:29:240:29:28

But these invaders to our shores didn't come alone.

0:29:280:29:31

The Romans brought new and exciting plants here from across the whole

0:29:310:29:34

Roman Empire, shipped in clay plant pots across the English Channel.

0:29:340:29:39

Things like marigolds

0:29:390:29:40

and roses, the things you'd expect to see in an English country garden

0:29:400:29:44

actually were brought in by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago.

0:29:440:29:48

But an army marches on its stomach, not how prettily the garden grows.

0:29:480:29:52

The Romans brought with them a wide range of edible vegetables,

0:29:520:29:56

things that we take for granted nowadays.

0:29:560:29:58

Things like garlic, and we've got some elephant garlic here,

0:29:580:30:02

cucumbers, walnuts, rosemary, a lot of our herbs.

0:30:020:30:05

The Romans also brought in pears and apples, a lot of the fruits

0:30:060:30:11

that we're so used to seeing in our orchards.

0:30:110:30:13

We know that the soft fruits, they also tried, but some of them,

0:30:130:30:16

particularly things like olives, of course didn't grow so well

0:30:160:30:18

in this climate, so it was the hardier varieties that

0:30:180:30:21

survived right through to the present day.

0:30:210:30:23

But what about us poor Brits?

0:30:230:30:25

Where were we while these fancy Romans were gorging

0:30:250:30:29

themselves on their Mediterranean diet?

0:30:290:30:31

People in the Iron Age living round here would be

0:30:310:30:34

reliant on sort of cereal crops - they'd be growing wheat and barley,

0:30:340:30:37

using it to make potage and breads.

0:30:370:30:40

They'd be making use of wild vegetables, wild fruits

0:30:400:30:42

like these blackberries here, but of course you'd be very reliant

0:30:420:30:45

on what was available at what time of year.

0:30:450:30:47

And sometimes, like these blackberries,

0:30:470:30:49

the crop wouldn't necessarily have come out as well as you'd expected.

0:30:490:30:53

For the Romans, a garden wasn't just for growing food.

0:30:530:30:56

It was an important outdoor pharmacy.

0:30:560:31:00

All manner of medical ailments had a Roman garden cure,

0:31:010:31:04

even if today some sound a little far-fetched!

0:31:040:31:08

In fact, it's difficult to imagine what our traditional British gardens

0:31:100:31:14

would have looked like if it wasn't for those Italian men in togas.

0:31:140:31:18

Over the last 2,000 years we can see how their both culinary

0:31:180:31:23

and horticultural legacy has stayed with us and actually has

0:31:230:31:26

influenced British cooking and British gardening even today.

0:31:260:31:31

Here we go!

0:31:340:31:35

Over at Arundel Castle, we seem to have slipped back in time, too...

0:31:370:31:41

Oh, well done sir.

0:31:410:31:43

..as a historical jousting tournament

0:31:430:31:45

is taking place on the castle grounds.

0:31:450:31:48

How many revolutions?

0:31:480:31:50

I'm not sure what medieval gardeners got up to...

0:31:500:31:53

Hopefully not jousting - I'm no good on a horse!

0:31:530:31:57

I'm off to meet Arundel's Head Gardener, Martin Duncan,

0:31:590:32:02

in the kitchen garden.

0:32:020:32:04

Hi, Martin.

0:32:040:32:05

-Oh, hello, Christine.

-What you up to?

0:32:050:32:07

Ah, bit of apple pruning, summer pruning.

0:32:070:32:10

-OK.

-Very important for apples at this time of year.

0:32:100:32:14

It also exposes the apple to the sun as well, and that ripens the fruit.

0:32:140:32:18

So... And this is something that people get confused about, isn't it?

0:32:180:32:22

Because a restricted form,

0:32:220:32:23

so on the cordons, the espaliers, the fans,

0:32:230:32:26

those that are smaller in size, what we're trying to do is change

0:32:260:32:30

all this vegetative growth into fruiting wood.

0:32:300:32:33

-Yeah.

-But you see winter pruning is all about regeneration of wood.

0:32:330:32:37

Wood, and getting rid of canker and all sorts of disease.

0:32:370:32:41

It's just two different pruning times, isn't it?

0:32:410:32:43

And it if there's one which is sort of eight centimetres

0:32:430:32:46

-or eight inches long, like one over here...

-Leave it.

0:32:460:32:48

-That's it.

-Cos that's got the fruit for next year.

0:32:480:32:51

That's what you want, yeah.

0:32:510:32:52

But this is an interesting variety, isn't it?

0:32:520:32:55

It's a stunning apple called Peasgood Nonsuch.

0:32:550:32:58

Great name.

0:32:580:32:59

And one apple of these you can do a whole apple crumble or

0:32:590:33:02

one of those baked ones because they reach at least four times that size.

0:33:020:33:08

Many would consider an apple the quintessential British fruit.

0:33:080:33:12

Food writer Edward Bunyard wrote in 1929,

0:33:120:33:15

"Let the Frenchman have his pear,

0:33:150:33:18

"the Italian, his fig. But for us, the apple."

0:33:180:33:21

Training trees against a wall or a fence is a perfect

0:33:250:33:28

space-saving way of growing apples, if you only have a small garden.

0:33:280:33:32

There are over 2,000 apple varieties to choose from

0:33:340:33:38

and our climate is perfect for growing them.

0:33:380:33:40

Most of the apple production in Britain is limited to a dozen

0:33:400:33:43

or so varieties you see in the supermarket,

0:33:430:33:46

so why not ring the changes and pick a heritage variety?

0:33:460:33:50

As a gardener, I love apple trees in the spring

0:33:530:33:55

when they're full of blossom, but I also love to eat the fruit, too.

0:33:550:34:00

Hey, baked apples where you take the centre out and you fill it with

0:34:000:34:02

sultanas and then you put a blob of butter then a blob of marmalade.

0:34:020:34:08

-Ah!

-And you cook 'em, and the marmalade caramelises

0:34:080:34:12

on the sulta... It's delicious with lashings of thick yellow custard.

0:34:120:34:16

-That sounds delicious.

-Oh, it's best way to eat an apple!

0:34:160:34:19

-It is, and especially picked fresh from the tree.

-Oh, yeah.

0:34:190:34:23

We're just so lucky here, you know. We've got a tropical area,

0:34:230:34:26

we've got an Italianate area, a stumpery, and we've got a

0:34:260:34:29

stunning cut flower garden and this lovely organic kitchen garden.

0:34:290:34:33

So there's a surprise around every corner.

0:34:330:34:36

And one of the new surprises visitors can discover

0:34:370:34:40

is the stumpery.

0:34:400:34:41

Trees have always had a place in our gardens,

0:34:430:34:45

but trust the Victorians to turn that idea on its head.

0:34:450:34:49

A stumpery is an arrangement of dead tree roots placed

0:34:510:34:54

upside down or on their side.

0:34:540:34:56

This stumpery is only a couple of years old and,

0:34:580:35:01

in a very modern touch, has been adorned by bright and exotic plants.

0:35:010:35:06

But the first ever stumpery is a much darker and foreboding place.

0:35:080:35:12

This is the original stumpery,

0:35:170:35:19

built at Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire in 1856.

0:35:190:35:23

It's both strange and beautiful at the same time.

0:35:260:35:30

It's looked after by gardener, Paul Walton.

0:35:350:35:39

It's very eerie, prehistoric, a bit scary almost, you know.

0:35:390:35:43

And you just wouldn't have seen this in Victorian times at all.

0:35:430:35:46

You come round the corner

0:35:460:35:48

and you've got this almost grotesque prehistoric look to it.

0:35:480:35:51

You can almost imagine the ladies with their posh frocks on snagging

0:35:510:35:54

their dresses on some of the stumps, I imagine they'd be quite shocked

0:35:540:35:57

at what they saw and almost saying, "What on Earth have you done here?"

0:35:570:36:01

Seen as Victorian oddities,

0:36:020:36:04

stumperies could be described as gothic.

0:36:040:36:06

Or they may have been inspired by the Romantic movement,

0:36:060:36:09

which emphasised the beauty of nature.

0:36:090:36:12

But there were some very practical reasons for their existence, too.

0:36:130:36:17

During Victorian times, they commissioned quite a few

0:36:180:36:20

plant hunters to go overseas.

0:36:200:36:22

The plants were brought over, then the areas were built to house

0:36:220:36:25

the plants, and then this fabulous stumpery is ideal for fern.

0:36:250:36:29

It creates little pockets for planting them and showing them off.

0:36:290:36:32

To create an area which worked really well

0:36:320:36:35

for that kind of plant was brilliant.

0:36:350:36:38

Pull that barrow out, Bob.

0:36:380:36:40

Right, Rob, if you take your end round.

0:36:400:36:42

Whack it on that stump there.

0:36:420:36:44

Despite the trees being dead, a stumpery still needs a lot of TLC.

0:36:440:36:49

Quite an effort getting them in.

0:36:490:36:50

We can't get any machinery here neither, so it is...

0:36:500:36:53

it's pretty well much man power.

0:36:530:36:54

What I would do, Rob, I'd maybe sit that down there a little

0:36:540:36:57

bit lower and try and get them two spikes up.

0:36:570:36:59

What we want to do is create this canopy coming over, really,

0:36:590:37:03

and, well, feel like you're a bit enclosed,

0:37:030:37:05

a bit daunting almost when you walk through this bit.

0:37:050:37:08

It's all right, that isn't looking too bad now.

0:37:090:37:12

You come through here now, got that height there,

0:37:120:37:14

there's other areas we've still got to do, but this was quite

0:37:140:37:18

an open area, so I'm really pleased that we've got that sorted today,

0:37:180:37:21

so... Brilliant.

0:37:210:37:22

What was once dull and lifeless has been turned into something

0:37:220:37:26

vibrant and alive.

0:37:260:37:28

Now that IS a transformation.

0:37:280:37:30

Back at Arundel Castle,

0:37:340:37:36

another other-worldly feature awaits me at the Collector Earl's Garden.

0:37:360:37:40

This is a version of Oberon's Palace, a fantastic spectacle

0:37:410:37:46

designed by Inigo Jones for Prince Henry's entertainment in 1611.

0:37:460:37:52

Oberon was the King of the Faeries in medieval

0:37:520:37:54

and Renaissance literature,

0:37:540:37:56

and Martin thinks I might be royally entertained by what's inside it.

0:37:560:38:01

This is an amazing building.

0:38:010:38:03

That's shell, isn't it?

0:38:030:38:04

-It is shell. This is all made out of mussel shells.

-That is stunning.

0:38:040:38:08

All pasted on but looking as urns, but quite, quite stunning.

0:38:080:38:13

I mean, beautiful!

0:38:130:38:14

But what's really exciting is, let me show you this.

0:38:140:38:18

-If you would like to turn this.

-Right.

0:38:180:38:21

Just slowly, and see what happens.

0:38:210:38:25

Maybe a little bit quicker.

0:38:330:38:35

Oh, I can... I can...

0:38:350:38:38

-You're worried now, aren't you?

-No, I'm not.

0:38:380:38:40

You're not, no, no.

0:38:400:38:41

Go on, go on! Up you go, lad! Wah!

0:38:410:38:45

Wheee!

0:38:450:38:47

Whoo... Oh, I've done it. Up, up she goes.

0:38:470:38:50

And down she comes.

0:38:500:38:52

I can tell you're enjoying this.

0:38:520:38:55

Up and down. Oooh, going up there!

0:38:550:38:58

-Whee, come on!

-Down you go.

0:38:580:39:01

Come on, down you come. Gently, gently.

0:39:010:39:05

-Once more and I'll...I'll catch it for you.

-OK, bring it down.

0:39:050:39:09

Oh! Look, look at that.

0:39:110:39:13

-Wow.

-It's fantastic, isn't it?

0:39:160:39:18

And what... I mean, what a toy.

0:39:180:39:20

Now you know why I wear a hat inside.

0:39:200:39:23

That, I mean...I mean, what a party piece, Gs and Ts,

0:39:230:39:27

and have your friends and... Oh-hoo! Up and down, up and down.

0:39:270:39:31

Fantastic!

0:39:310:39:32

Even though Arundel Castle is a thousand years old,

0:39:340:39:37

a garden is a constantly evolving thing.

0:39:370:39:39

So whether you simply plant a new herbaceous border or transform an

0:39:400:39:45

ugly car-park into a Jacobean-themed vista, a garden is ripe for change.

0:39:450:39:50

Back at West Dean, you can really appreciate the scale and

0:40:000:40:03

dimensions of the garden from above, especially at the Edwardian pergola.

0:40:030:40:09

But I want to take a closer look.

0:40:090:40:11

The 300-foot pergola was designed by architect

0:40:140:40:17

and gardener Harold Peto in 1912.

0:40:170:40:20

It's a wonderful structure, which unites great planting

0:40:200:40:24

and architecture.

0:40:240:40:26

As you look through it,

0:40:260:40:27

it frames the parkland as a living landscape painting.

0:40:270:40:30

I thought it looked fantastic from the skies,

0:40:330:40:35

I think it's even better on the ground.

0:40:350:40:38

Former high-flyer Laura gave up a career in the City to

0:40:410:40:45

volunteer at West Dean, and it's changed her life.

0:40:450:40:48

To thank her and all the other garden volunteers,

0:40:480:40:52

I've organised a tribute to mark all their hard work.

0:40:520:40:55

So, Laura, I thought it would be quite nice to leave something here

0:40:560:41:01

that you might be able to look up to in years to come and enjoy.

0:41:010:41:06

So... What do you think?

0:41:060:41:09

Wow, great.

0:41:090:41:11

CHEERS

0:41:110:41:15

That's incredible.

0:41:150:41:16

Now, the key thing is, do you recognise the shape of the person.

0:41:190:41:24

It looks vaguely familiar, yeah.

0:41:240:41:26

-Yeah, because it should, because it's you!

-Yeah.

0:41:260:41:29

It's all there, the garden, the history,

0:41:290:41:32

-the people and these plants hiding in the wheelbarrow.

-Yes.

0:41:320:41:36

I've never seen someone so joyfully pushing a wheelbarrow.

0:41:360:41:39

There you are!

0:41:390:41:40

You see, now the only job is that it's got to go up there.

0:41:400:41:44

Oh, God, do I have to climb up the wall?

0:41:440:41:46

No, you don't because... Where are you, Jim?

0:41:460:41:49

I'm behind you. Look who's behind you.

0:41:490:41:51

I think...I think it's your job.

0:41:510:41:53

Now, you tell me when.

0:41:590:42:00

Now. No, no. No.

0:42:000:42:03

-I thought above the door.

-Above the door?

-Come back.

0:42:030:42:05

Above the door yeah. Right, whoa, whoa.

0:42:050:42:07

Lovely. Lovely.

0:42:070:42:09

-Now what do you think to that?

-That looks great.

0:42:090:42:11

I can't quite believe I've been immortalised in metal.

0:42:110:42:13

Absolutely.

0:42:130:42:15

Yes, well, I think you've done a splendid job.

0:42:150:42:17

And I think that will look lovely there.

0:42:170:42:19

-I wonder how long we can leave him there.

-Not very long.

0:42:190:42:22

I think Laura's weather-vane is a very appropriate symbol of her

0:42:290:42:32

story and connection to West Dean.

0:42:320:42:35

But it does remind me that good flying weather is few

0:42:350:42:37

and far between.

0:42:370:42:39

It's been such a treat to see these Sussex

0:42:460:42:48

gardens from my vantage in the sky.

0:42:480:42:51

And what I can see is the changes here at West Dean.

0:42:510:42:54

Arundel Castle.

0:42:560:42:57

Even the Craven Estate community garden

0:42:590:43:02

have not only transformed the gardens,

0:43:020:43:04

but they've changed the lives of the people who care for them.

0:43:040:43:08

Sometimes you need to see things from a whole new perspective

0:43:100:43:14

to truly understand them.

0:43:140:43:17

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