Diarmuid Gavin at Garden Show Ireland 2024
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00So, Dermot, you're here again as ambassador for Garden Show Ireland. Obviously, you're
00:16very fond of this part of the world. What can you tell me about Antrim Castle Gardens
00:21here and just why you love it so much?
00:24I love Antrim Castle Gardens, first of all, because of the gardens themselves, which are
00:29just green and beautiful and kind of, for a stately home garden, democratic. They're
00:35for the people. So they were laid out, you know, 300 years ago, whatever it was, in the
00:41Anglo-Dutch style. They're one of the best of this type of garden that there is anywhere.
00:49To have a garden show dropped in on top of that, in the middle of Antrim, is just wonderful.
00:55So I love the idea of it and I love the people behind it. I love what Clare Faulkner, the
01:00originator of the show, has done through the years to build up something really special,
01:07which is basically a beautiful place around, based around plants and people coming together
01:13to appreciate plants and gardens.
01:16And how did you start initially to get involved with Garden Show Ireland?
01:20When we were coming out of COVID, Clare and Ursula Faye from Antrim and Eugen Abbey District
01:29Council asked me to come up to a show that they were putting on, a family show that they
01:36were putting on in Antrim Castle Gardens to talk about the following year's Garden Show
01:42Ireland, because they recognised that really people had found great refuge in their gardens
01:48during lockdown and they wanted to reflect that in the new show, the rebirth, let's say,
01:53of the show that Clare had developed. So we did that and it was great and it was a lovely
01:59audience and then Clare and Ursula came to me and asked me would I do a show garden based
02:07on the style of garden I might have done at Chelsea. And actually we came to this room,
02:11this very room, to make a presentation to the council on the garden I felt would be
02:17appropriate, which was a clockwork garden that we had created in Chelsea. All that worked
02:21out, that was commissioned, so we moved up to build that for about six weeks and that
02:28was three years ago and it's been a joy seeing that evolve so to become the centrepiece of
02:33the show and indeed the brand of the Garden Show and now to see the planting mature and
02:40to see people enjoy it is wonderful.
02:43You mentioned there just about COVID and about how people were spending more time outside
02:48trying to make the best of their outdoor space. Obviously a lot of people perhaps took up
02:52gardening for the first time at that stage and do you see that trend continuing? Has
02:57gardening got the popularity now that it would have had a few years back?
03:02COVID had a remarkable effect on people and the relationship with landscape and with gardens.
03:10Landscape and gardens became a refuge and gardening became a kind of therapeutic magic
03:15because people realised plants love to grow. We complain about our climate all the time
03:21but when you're stuck in a house and not allowed to leave your garden, then if you
03:25are lucky enough to have access to a garden, it became a refuge and it became a place that
03:30people began to open their eyes and see nature in action over different seasons. And the
03:37amazing thing about it is it has maintained, it just changed people's lives. So people
03:44began to grow stuff and are now invested in the idea of gardening and nature and invested
03:52in creating roots, planting stuff that establishes and watching that. So it's really changed
04:01our industry, it's changed what people like, it's changed how they appreciate things and
04:06it gives great hope for a lovely gardening future.
04:09And the weather, it's not something that we should shy away from, we've got probably
04:13four seasons in one day. Should we really complain about it if we're gardeners?
04:18We're funny about the weather on these islands because we complain all the time, but actually
04:24for gardening we have a remarkable climate, we have a temperate climate. That means we've
04:28a lack of extremes, even though it mightn't feel like it, of hot or cold or wet or dry
04:34and plants from all around the globe grow here. So we have a mild, moist climate, that's
04:42exactly what plants love, so it creates great opportunity. And if you're a gardener like
04:47me, you'll know that we lose very few days due to bad weather. You know, it can happen,
04:53but generally we're looking at our television, we're looking at heat extremes in different
04:59parts of the world and our gardens remain a place that we can be out in, that we can
05:05enjoy and that we can grow or that we can look after.