Landscape Man s01e05 (2009)

  • 3 months ago
5 of 6
Matthew Wilson helps Anne and Geoff Shaw, who are trying to transform a dilapidated Sussex garden by using modern designs to complement its natural beauty. Their plans incorporate a tennis court, pool complex and sunken gardens, but the couple are struggling to come up with the funds to realise their ambitions.
Transcript
00:00This couple are hoping to bring a bold, modern design to an area of outstanding natural beauty.
00:08This is going to be a sunken garden.
00:10That's a huge piece of work. I mean, that's way up here somewhere.
00:16But they face many obstacles in their path.
00:19We have lost sight, really, of what we were planning on doing, what we really wanted out of it.
00:24The whole project is on the brink, basically.
00:27Will they be able to steer their way through to get the landscape of their dreams?
00:31We just can't afford to spend that amount of money.
00:57The county of Sussex is blessed with some of the most beautiful scenery in the south-east of England.
01:03And it's here, in the Cookmere Valley, that two years ago,
01:06successful entrepreneurs Anne and Geoff Shaw found their dream home for them and their two daughters.
01:13We love the house, we love the setting,
01:16and we just feel this is the only opportunity this house has had in the last 250 years to look fantastic.
01:25Anne and Geoff's house sits in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty,
01:30right next to ancient landmarks and historic villages,
01:33some dating back to the Roman and Saxon periods.
01:36This is a beautiful and protective piece of the English countryside.
01:41Well, it's a real thrill to bring something back to life
01:45that's not been lived in and not been kept well for so many years.
01:54They have been restoring their Grade II listed house for almost two years,
01:58but their plans for outdoors are much more radical.
02:02It does look a little bigger now, doesn't it?
02:04Well, it's done a good job.
02:06With a quarter of a million pound budget,
02:08and the help of a contemporary landscape architect and designer,
02:11they plan to bring the site right into the 21st century.
02:15We've never done a project of this scale.
02:19We've done stuff to a previous house before,
02:23but we haven't planned anything as grand as this.
02:27As a professional designer myself,
02:29I'll be adding my advice to help Anne and Geoff bring their project to fruition.
02:36This is a fairly nondescript arrival.
02:40All a bit messy, really. Overgrown and unloved.
02:43Big piles of rubble everywhere.
02:45Yeah. Mind you.
02:48Wow. That is a fantastic view.
02:52Whatever they do here is going to have to pay homage to what is a truly superb view.
03:01How are you doing? How do you do? I'm Anne.
03:03Nice to meet you. Matthew. I'm Geoff.
03:05Nice to meet you, Matthew. How are you doing?
03:07What a place, what a project you've got.
03:09And a cracking view over the mounds of detritus,
03:13but, Anne, to the better view beyond.
03:15Not so nice today, though, I don't think.
03:17But what's that compound out there, that mesh?
03:20That was the tennis court. Oh, was it?
03:22That's a weird place to stick a tennis court, isn't it?
03:25Yes, it is. It's a bit old, that.
03:28Anyway, look, shall we go and have a look? Yes, we'll go.
03:31I'm very excited to see what you have in mind.
03:36The garden surrounding the house is neglected and full of rubble.
03:40Anne and Geoff are planning to tackle three huge areas.
03:44The first sits at the top of their plot
03:47and is an old vegetable garden, but they've got swanky plans for it.
03:51OK, so the pool is going to be this area here,
03:55and then you turn left and you've got the changing rooms,
04:00plant room, games room,
04:04and then up here is a small gap
04:07and then you've got the garage block at the top.
04:10It's a massive project, this, isn't it? Never mind everything else.
04:13This is, on its own, kind of like a major project.
04:16It's enormous. It's an enormous building.
04:19It's a challenge. We like a challenge.
04:22The swimming pool and garage complex
04:25will be built at the top of Anne and Geoff's four acres,
04:28but it's at the front of the house where the really bold design will kick in.
04:33The land will be completely re-sculpted
04:36to allow for a modern, curved, sunken garden.
04:39Winding stone paths will twist around,
04:42taking you down to an existing shabby tennis court
04:45that will be given a much-needed facelift.
04:48This is my favourite area. Is it?
04:51This is going to be a sunken garden in a very unusual shape.
04:55Yeah, so the level, if you come out this door, the plan is,
04:59if we went out in a straight line from here,
05:02you're pretty much going to end up at the height of that fence.
05:05From that fence? Yeah. From there? From there.
05:08That's going to take you... Keep on going, keep on going.
05:11Way up to... There's a bit of a drop at the end there.
05:15Really? That's a huge piece of work, Geoff.
05:17I mean, that's way up here somewhere.
05:19Pretty much. When you stand here, you don't see the tennis court at all.
05:23Can't you just get rid of the tennis court, Geoff?
05:26Bit of a subject of a debate, actually.
05:29Well, I do want the tennis court. I know it's in the wrong place,
05:32but I don't think they'll let us move it further down.
05:35Well, moving it down is one option.
05:37Getting rid of it altogether and taking up a new hobby is another.
05:40No. I definitely do want a tennis court,
05:42whether it's there or somewhere else.
05:44But don't you think that a house like this
05:47needs to have a few extras like the pool, like the tennis court?
05:52Yeah, but not there. No, no, I know it's not the right place.
05:55It's wrong. It's completely wrong.
05:57You know, you're creating a landscape that enhances your life,
06:01that enhances the house that sits within the landscape,
06:04and you've got a bloody tennis court in the middle of it.
06:07If I can do one thing, it will be getting rid of that tennis court.
06:12The entrance to the house is currently hemmed in by an old flint wall,
06:16which they're planning to remove.
06:18This will create a much grander entrance,
06:20complete with a stone walkway, wildflower garden and a curved natural pond.
06:26Our plan is to take this wall out.
06:29But because the house is Grade II listed,
06:31we would have to get planning to be able to take it out.
06:34Because it's Grade... Oh, really? Just to remove this?
06:36It's not. I mean, with the best will in the world,
06:39It's quite an ugly wall.
06:41Yeah, it's not exactly the work of Hadrian's Merry Men or anything, is it?
06:46Removing historic walls, modern design,
06:49this all feels like it could be a complicated planning process.
06:53I don't think Anne and Geoff know what might be coming.
06:56This is a very exciting project.
06:58I mean, you've got a huge amount going on, massive budget to go with it.
07:02I mean, we haven't quite got to the nub of the budget yet,
07:06because it's a moving target.
07:07We don't quite know what we're going to get away with.
07:09And you guys have never done anything like this before, have you?
07:11No, we haven't.
07:12We've never restored a house before and we've never done a garden.
07:15No, that's worrying enough. The garden's more worrying, I think.
07:20A design like this won't come cheap,
07:22and I'd be surprised if even their quarter-of-a-million-pound budget will cover it.
07:29The man that Anne and Geoff will put their money and their faith in
07:34is London-based landscape designer Ian Kitson.
07:38How do you go about giving them the confidence
07:41to come through the process with you so they understand what it is you're talking about?
07:45My task is to try and persuade them to adopt what I want to do.
07:49My task isn't to come along here and just say,
07:52''What would you like to do, Anne and Geoff?''
07:54and they'll tell me and then I'll just do it.
07:56That's not what a designer does.
07:58So hopefully what we'll get here is something that Anne and Geoff will adopt
08:02for their lifestyle.
08:07They're creating an ambitious garden in an area of outstanding natural beauty,
08:11and that means that the planning controls here are much more stringent
08:15than they would normally be.
08:17So the local authority are going to be watching it like hawks.
08:20And then the designer that Anne and Geoff have selected to make this happen
08:24is known for contemporary, urban, quite challenging designs.
08:29I'd say that's quite an interesting little mixture there.
08:39Anne and Geoff Shaw are embarking on a massive landscape project.
08:43As complete novices, they're going to create a bold modern design
08:47in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
08:50They're planning to create an all-singing, all-dancing,
08:5321st-century luxury garden,
08:55complete with swimming pool, games room and garage complex.
09:00At the front of the house, they're going for an uber-modern, sunken garden,
09:04using traditional materials like flint,
09:07but with a very contemporary curved design.
09:13And beyond that, they're going for a modern,
09:17and beyond that, they'll have a brand-new tennis court.
09:23It's now November, and after years of neglect,
09:26the area is in a complete state.
09:28So the first job is to clear and level the site.
09:32But before any major works take place, they hit a problem.
09:38At the entrance to the house, there's an old flint wall
09:41that Anne and Geoff were hoping to knock down,
09:44but the planners are not happy.
09:46Designer Ian is on-site to explain the problem.
09:49He's going to remove the old flint wall,
09:51and he's going to use it to build a new garden.
09:54The historic building officer seems nervous
09:57about wanting to see this freestanding wall removed.
10:02So you've got the feeling we can't take the wall out?
10:06I've got the feeling we might have to work quite hard to get round it.
10:12I mean, I think in the long-term,
10:15we're going to have to work quite hard to get round it.
10:18I mean, I think in the long-term,
10:22when there's a building there,
10:24it just makes sense to have this part of that field
10:27to be part of your garden experience,
10:30and I don't think it wants this bit of bloody wall
10:33going through the middle of it.
10:35Not all gardens need planning permission,
10:37but the scale of Anne and Geoff's garden and its location
10:40in an area of outstanding natural beauty means that it certainly does.
10:44This has got the potential to be a massive problem
10:48because historic features like this wall,
10:51it might not look very much, but to planners, it's important.
10:54And because it's important to them, it can hold the whole thing up.
10:58Nothing can move forward until this is resolved.
11:05So now we get to this point where we're arguing over a brick wall,
11:08which might affect the whole garden design. It's a bit of a pain.
11:11Everything has been thrown up in the air a little bit,
11:14and I'm more concerned that we're going to get stuck on this wall
11:17because we need to start the garden.
11:20I can see a situation where we're in here and we haven't even started.
11:32In January, the official letter from the planners arrives,
11:36and it's not good news.
11:38The letter is here, and in a nutshell,
11:42we require listed building consent for anything to do with the wall.
11:49They then said that on paper
11:51they won't give us approval for the sunken garden as a draw.
11:55So we've entered a process
11:58of quite seriously reviewing a number of elements of the design.
12:04So not only does Ian have to redesign the entrance,
12:07Anne's much-loved sunken garden needs redesigning too.
12:13I'd be very disappointed with the sunken garden.
12:16That was the one thing that I really adored about the plans.
12:21So that would be extremely disappointing if they were awkward on that.
12:31At the end of January, Ian arrives at Anne and Geoff's current house in Eastbourne
12:35to present his new design.
12:39To satisfy the planners, Ian's kept the flint wall
12:42and reduced the depth of the sunken garden.
12:44We've been through a very careful, proactive process
12:47where, in my view, that will get planning approval.
12:51They've firmly said that's fine.
12:54I think as far as the big picture's gone and the changes that we've proposed,
12:58I think they're really, really happy.
13:00The only hurdle left is to submit the final budget to Anne and Geoff for their approval.
13:05And hopefully we can start building within the next three weeks.
13:18At the beginning of March, I get a worrying phone call from Geoff
13:22and head down to Eastbourne to find out what's going on.
13:28From what I'm hearing, it sounds as if the whole project is on the brink, basically,
13:33and I don't know why, and I need to find out why, and I need to help them get it back on track.
13:41What's been going on?
13:43Well, the long and short of it is we may not be going ahead with the garden.
13:47You may not be going ahead with the garden?
13:50That's a bit of a shocker.
13:52A bit of a shocker for us as well, actually.
13:54The economic crisis has affected everyone, including Anne and Geoff.
13:59But the final design costs come in at a massive £400,000.
14:04The most important thing is that we just can't afford to spend that amount of money
14:08in the current environment, and we've got to make some cutbacks.
14:12So how has this left you feeling, given all the...
14:16I mean, money is one thing, but the emotional investment you've put into all of this?
14:20It's very disappointing.
14:22Numb, frustrated, angry?
14:25Yeah.
14:27Maybe we should just turf the whole area for the moment
14:32and then we'll revisit it in a year's time.
14:34I honestly don't think that's a choice.
14:37Having seen how far you've come
14:41and the emotional investment that you've put into this,
14:45which is why it's hurting now even more, of course,
14:48because you've put so much emotional investment into this place,
14:51I would strongly urge you to get in to review this every step of the way
14:58to consider how it can be carried out with less exposures to cost.
15:04I'm feeling more positive than before we met Matthew
15:07because it's just giving us a bit of a path,
15:10a bit of a plan of what we're going to do.
15:14We've been through the let's do nothing,
15:17we know we can't do the all singing, all dancing,
15:20let's get it back to something that we can live with.
15:24No, that we do want, not just live with.
15:27I just hope that they can get this right,
15:30that they can sort it out, get it in on budget,
15:34press the button, make it happen,
15:36because I just think it would be disastrous for them if it doesn't.
15:51I feel as if we're a step closer,
15:54but I still need to take Anne and Geoff and remind them
15:58that gardens are not about planning and budgets and problems.
16:02They're about colour and beauty and flowers
16:06and love and enjoyment and joy,
16:09and that's what I need to show them.
16:14Great Dixter is one of my favourite gardens,
16:17and I'm sure there's a few ideas
16:19that Anne and Geoff can borrow for their own place.
16:22It's been a fairly traumatic process so far,
16:25you know, and diggers and builders and planners and everything else,
16:29and what I really want you to be thinking about now
16:32is that actually what we're doing is making a garden,
16:35a beautiful garden, with colour and plants and wildlife,
16:39you know, all the things that you got excited about
16:42the first time I met you, and I think, you know,
16:45that's what I really want you to come away with from today,
16:48is just feeling excited about the fact that you're making a garden
16:51and you're not turfing it over, which has got to be good,
16:54because you wouldn't have any of this if it was just turf.
16:57I think you're right, that feeling's disappeared, hasn't it,
17:00from the very first time we met you.
17:02We were very enthusiastic, and then with all the other ups and downs,
17:05we have lost sight, really, of what we were planning on doing
17:08and what we really wanted out of it.
17:10Well, that's what we're here to do today.
17:16Look at this.
17:18Wow!
17:19Yeah?
17:20Oh, a sunken garden as well!
17:22That is really something, isn't it?
17:24Go on in, go on in, go on in.
17:26Let's get in that sunken garden.
17:28But what's lovely about this is that it's, I mean,
17:31it's completely over-the-top colour in some respects.
17:34No, it's not, it's fantastic.
17:36Ah, well, there you are, you'd say, too.
17:38No, we love colour, so it's amazing.
17:40And you see, I quite like the blue and the red,
17:43and I don't think plants can clash.
17:46Look at the colour of that.
17:49Wow, isn't that pretty?
17:51I've never seen one that colour before.
17:53And I want to show them how a great view can become part of the garden,
17:57providing there's not a tennis court in the way.
17:59Now, that is what I want you to see.
18:02Look at that view. Isn't that amazing?
18:04It is.
18:05Across the wildflowers, across the meadow,
18:07past the sheep and over into the countryside.
18:09Not too dissimilar from your view.
18:11When you see what it could really look like,
18:13then that changes everything.
18:16And you think, yes, when the garden's done,
18:18it is going to look like this.
18:20We've got a lot of ideas now that we can go back with them,
18:23so we just have to sit down and think about what's going to work
18:27and try and marry them up with what we've already got there.
18:30And now I feel they're going to go back home with new energy,
18:34new vigour, and think, yeah,
18:36we're making something like this for the future,
18:38which has got to be exciting.
18:41Anne and Geoff ask Ian to redesign the whole garden
18:44based on a new budget of £150,000.
18:48And in April, after over five months of designing,
18:52work finally starts.
18:58I rang Ian and he said,
19:00look, if you're going to have to bring the numbers down,
19:03I can deliver you a great garden
19:08in the main area that you need, which is in front of the house
19:11and with a view across the valley,
19:13which will give you your sunken garden.
19:15And all of a sudden, all that stress and worry
19:18about what we were going to do evaporated
19:21and we could finally embrace the new scheme.
19:27The first project is creating Anne's beloved
19:30but complex and curved sunken garden.
19:33Ian's plans are...
19:35He doesn't use a ruler very much, so there's an awful lot of curves.
19:39Most of that's done by eye.
19:41It's a thing we call when it looks right, it's right.
19:44It's not, it's because it's more sort of arty,
19:47but it does take a certain amount of time.
19:57Now we feel there are no works
20:01that we intend to do in this garden
20:04that actually need planning approval.
20:07And we've written to the planners on that basis
20:10and we've taken the view we are going to start proceeding with the works.
20:13As far as we're concerned, short of discovering a Roman village
20:16under the tennis court, there's no reason why this can't be delivered to programme.
20:21Unless the planners write back and disagree with Ian's opinion,
20:25the planning issue can finally be put to bed.
20:32Hello.
20:34Oh, hello, Matthew. Hi. Hello, how are you?
20:37How are you doing? Are you all right? Nice to see you.
20:40Nice to see you. Hi, Matthew. You all right? Yeah.
20:43Look, look, look. Yes, you never thought it would happen, did you?
20:46I thought, well, no, not after last time.
20:49I thought, well, I'm just pleased you haven't turfed it all over.
20:52It hasn't been ruled out. Yeah, it has now.
20:55Look at that. It's not too low. It's great.
20:58Are you relieved? You must be relieved.
21:00Well, something's happening, isn't it?
21:02Yeah, definitely. I thought nothing would ever happen.
21:05We were quite worried about that.
21:07And also, the tennis court is going.
21:12That's the most exciting news I've had this year.
21:14Only because we're putting a wildlife pond in.
21:16That actually was. That's such a revelation to finally make a decision
21:19and actually go with it.
21:21Because weren't you going to have something over in the...
21:23Yeah, we were, but... Right.
21:25Finances, we've had to sort of pull back on certain things,
21:28so I think all the money's going to be spent
21:30just on the front part of the garden really, isn't it?
21:33So the budget cuts and redesign
21:35mean that all the plans at the side of the house have been shelved.
21:39The good news is the monstrous tennis court
21:42is going to be replaced by a beautiful wildlife pond.
21:47Decking and stone paths will lead up to the curvy modern sunken garden.
21:52Yeah, well, this to me is one of the most blissful experiences
21:56I've had for some time. Oh, really?
21:58The mere fact that this wretched tennis court is going...
22:04I knew it would go in the end, you know.
22:06I was just holding out for the right idea.
22:08I was just being awkward.
22:10Yeah, holding out thinking,
22:12oh, I'm going to have to take all those tennis clothes back to the sports shop.
22:16Not at all, no. I was just holding out, waiting for the right idea.
22:19I genuinely think in years to come, Anne and Geoff are going to look
22:22at what was their tennis court
22:24and see their beautiful pond with their seating area
22:27and full of wildlife and think,
22:29that was the best decision we've ever made.
22:32Forget buying the house, forget moving here in the first place,
22:35just getting rid of this bloody tennis court,
22:38which is, it is like,
22:40you know, it's like, you know,
22:42it's like, you know,
22:44it's like, you know,
22:46which is, it is like,
22:49although it doesn't rise up out of the ground,
22:51visually, you might as well have a wall there.
22:53So...praise be
22:56that it's going. It's fantastic.
23:01With the project so far behind schedule
23:04and Ian's builders on a fixed rate,
23:06work on site moves up a gear.
23:08The pressure's on.
23:10Anne and Geoff want to move in at the end of summer
23:13and they want everything done before then.
23:16Unfortunately, the next process is the very time-consuming job
23:20of lining the modern curved wall with the traditional flint and lime mortar.
23:25It's nice with the lime mortar the flint's in.
23:27Much more traditional, more warmth to it,
23:29and hopefully matches up with the house a little bit.
23:32To create the curved end of the wall,
23:34the landscapers use a flexible plywood to form the shape,
23:38which is then filled with the flint and lime mortar and left to set.
23:45Progress for Anne and Geoff means that they can finally see
23:48the structure of their amazing new garden coming out of the ground.
23:55Well, I think the interesting point now is,
23:57having gone through all the pain that Anne, Geoff and Ian have been through
24:00to get to this point, with revisions and adjustments and everything else,
24:05now what would seem like to be a relief to most people
24:08is actually the point at which the pressure really starts for Ian.
24:11Because he's got to deliver a still very complicated garden
24:15with additional complications like turning the tennis court into a pond,
24:19and he's got to make all of that happen with a smaller budget,
24:23still to the same level of quality,
24:25and, oh yeah, just do it in four months instead of six.
24:29Brilliant. So the pressure is really on him now.
24:36Anne and Geoff Shaw's major landscape project in the heart of rural Sussex
24:41has been plagued by planning problems and the credit crunch.
24:52But now the structures are rising out of the earth,
24:55and bold designer Ian has come up with a new idea
24:58for the walls of the sunken garden.
25:00You see how, like, that's brick, and then there's this flint top,
25:04sort of oozing down over the brick.
25:07From here, round to there, it will be a brick wall.
25:11Ah, right.
25:12And then the flint sort of creeps up over the top,
25:14and then it points, oozes down, and it's not going to ooze down a bit more.
25:17Oh!
25:18And it'll be a lovely, lively little thing.
25:22Seeing progress in the garden
25:24reminds Anne of why they bought the house in the first place.
25:28You know, the house is very nice, but it's where it is,
25:31and the views, that really sold us on it.
25:34If this house had been somewhere else without that view,
25:38we wouldn't have bought it.
25:40Anne may be happy, but Geoff sees a cloud hanging over the planning issues.
25:46I have a worry that...
25:49Well, Ian assures me that the main bone of contention with the council was
25:53us doing anything with the wall.
25:55But since we've changed and rationalised the design,
25:58that's not going to happen.
25:59And I think everything else they were pretty cool with anyway,
26:02so I don't think...
26:03Although Ian wants to speak to them and formalise everything,
26:06which I don't think he's done yet,
26:08I'm pretty sure he's going to do that,
26:10just to make sure that there's no sort of nasties that come back on us.
26:19A week later, and builder Simon completes the intricate process
26:23of bringing to life Ian's new dripping flint wall.
26:30It's now May, and I'm back to take a look at progress.
26:33Howdy. Hi, Matthew. How you doing?
26:35Halfway. Look at this. I know. Wow.
26:38This has come on.
26:40This is just the beginning of a hole in the ground the last time I was here.
26:43It's amazing, isn't it? Yeah.
26:45Pretty impressive, though. You've got to admit.
26:47Nice work, Simon.
26:48Are you pleased with it? Thank you very much.
26:50Yes, curving is a nice variant on it.
26:54And then, of course, the candle wax.
26:58Yeah, the candle wax is fantastic. I love that.
27:01What do you think? No, it's great.
27:03It was described to me, and it's just as I imagined.
27:06And you're excited by it? Yeah, I am.
27:08Oh, definitely. It is...
27:10Cos we can now visualise it and see it and touch it.
27:13Yeah. It makes a big difference. Yeah.
27:15It's exciting, isn't it? I mean, it really feels as if
27:18there is now a garden being built here. Yeah.
27:20You know, when you think back not so long ago, how things were,
27:24to the dark days when we were threatened just to turf it all.
27:27Yeah, those dark days, exactly.
27:29Yeah, well, we've gone past the point of no return,
27:32and I think we're pleased we've made the right decision.
27:35MUSIC PLAYS
27:51The landscapers have moved on to the paving,
27:54but nothing in Ian's design is easy.
27:56It's not the same as normal, random paving.
27:59We like to call it crazy, but we're not allowed to call it crazy.
28:03They're using 12 tonnes of Perbet limestone
28:06to create a path that will run through the sunken garden
28:09all the way down to the wildlife pond.
28:12It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
28:14We're having to get the joints absolutely perfect.
28:17So it takes a little bit more time cos we have to cut each piece
28:20instead of just laying it where it falls.
28:23And it seems as if Ian's dripping flint wall effect has now disappeared.
28:28Basically, Ian didn't like it.
28:30So it all came out and got changed for ordinary flint.
28:33If we'd have carried on with it, it would have just been too contrived.
28:37Simon really liked it, Geoff and Anne really liked it
28:40when they saw it, but at the end of the day,
28:42I think I've probably bullied people into getting rid of it
28:48and just having it as a curvy flint wall
28:50on the grounds that it was my idea in the first place
28:52so I can do what I want with it.
28:55I hope that when this garden is finished,
28:58they'll see it as probably the best value lump of money
29:03they'll probably spend in their lifetime
29:06because it's going to transform how they live here
29:08and how they occupy this house and occupy this landscape.
29:13Such perfection does unfortunately mean the chances
29:16of getting this project finished by the end of summer are looking slimmer.
29:22Originally, it was going to be...
29:26..it was into July, but I think it's getting fairly well into August now.
29:32The last thing Anne and Geoff need is more problems.
29:39Two days later, Geoff has to take his mother to hospital in London
29:43where she's to undergo a serious operation.
29:47It's a nervous time for him,
29:49but whilst there, he receives a bombshell
29:52that could stop everything in the garden.
29:55They now want planning permission for the works that we're doing on the garden,
29:58which is a complete... I mean, clearly, it had taken Ian by surprise.
30:01It's certainly taken us by surprise.
30:03This morning, I felt completely and utterly...
30:06I don't know, I feel like I'm having an out-of-body experience.
30:09I feel really numb, I feel very jittery.
30:12Just when we think we've got to the top of the mountains,
30:15some bugger comes out and steps on your fingers
30:18and we could do without this stress,
30:21at this very, very moment, this week in time.
30:29Sadly for Geoff, all of these planning problems pale into insignificance
30:34when, days later, his mother passes away.
30:38Well, I mean, tackling a landscape like this is always challenging.
30:43It always throws up problems and can be really tough,
30:47but...
30:50But right now, what's going on with Anne and Geoff
30:53puts all of that into perspective, really,
30:56and just makes it even harder.
31:08With Geoff and Anne's attention naturally focused elsewhere,
31:12the uncertainty over planning means that work on site slows right down.
31:19I go to see Ian at his office to find out exactly what's happening.
31:24So I understand there is a potential issue with planning
31:27that might result in the site being shut down.
31:30It may be that we're off site for a week to ten days,
31:33and if that's the case, then fine.
31:36It's not the end of the world.
31:38And if they say no?
31:40Well, I don't think they will.
31:42I think it's a bit scaremongering to start thinking,
31:45what are we going to do if they say no?
31:47It's just not going to happen,
31:49because along this whole process,
31:51we've meticulously gone through a shedload of details with them
31:54that actually is much more fine-tuning
31:56than just the principle of a sunken garden.
31:58So it's just not going to happen.
32:01I really hope that all the effort that Ian's put in
32:04to talking to the planners, to putting the application together,
32:07pays off and they come back and say, yeah, it's fine,
32:10and Ian can get the whip-cracking
32:12and they can deliver this garden in time for Anne and Geoff,
32:15because if anyone deserves a garden, it's Anne and Geoff right now.
32:23There will now be an eight-week wait
32:25till the planners either reject or agree to the garden.
32:29With the project already behind schedule,
32:31Ian decides to carry on slowly with the works.
32:36A sunken garden needs planning permission, and it's already built.
32:40The tennis court, we can rip that up,
32:42but the moment they start making a wildlife pond,
32:45that needs planning permission too.
32:47The choice for Ian is stop everything completely,
32:50or carry on, slowing things down, but he's carrying on.
32:53Every day that he carries on doing what he's doing,
32:56every day that he carries on doing work,
32:58the risk mounts up because it's costing more money
33:01and it's increasing the chance the planners just come in and say,
33:04get rid of the whole lot.
33:08Now the planners have come along and said,
33:10you need a planning application.
33:12We are proceeding with risk, but we're balancing and weighing up the risk.
33:15We could stop now and just wait for three months,
33:18but we're just going to quietly carry on,
33:20because otherwise the whole job will stop,
33:22it's late for Anne and Geoff,
33:24we're into the worst time for planting.
33:26So it's a kind of balancing act of not doing anything stupid,
33:29but keeping the momentum of the job going.
33:36A week later, and the old tennis court is nearly gone.
33:40At the end of July, Ian receives news from the planners.
33:44So this morning was posted on the Wildern District Council internet site,
33:48the outcome of the planning application for the garden,
33:51and I am almost bitterly sorry to tell you
33:54that we don't have a criminal garden,
33:57it's not the first criminal garden in the world,
33:59it's the second criminal garden in the world,
34:01and it's the third criminal garden in the world.
34:04I am bitterly sorry to tell you that we don't have a criminal garden,
34:08it's not the first criminal garden in the UK,
34:10there's not a hint of an illegal wildlife pond,
34:13nor a suggestion that this beautiful sunken garden
34:15may actually be arrested late at night sometime in the near future.
34:18So in short, we have a full, unconditional planning approval,
34:22which is nevertheless a great weight off most people's shoulders,
34:26and now we can get on with earnest and finish this project.
34:30Finally, they've got the green light to create Anne and Geoff's dream landscape,
34:35and work can begin on the massive curved wildlife pond
34:39at the bottom of the garden.
34:42And they start laying the huge cumberland stone slabs to create new paths.
34:49It's been an incredibly tough time for Anne and Geoff,
34:52and returning from a much-needed holiday,
34:55Anne is happy that they can now move on.
34:57I think it probably has been one of the most difficult things we've done,
35:01but luckily we're fairly strong, so we've come through the other end,
35:06and it's going to be beautiful.
35:09It's been a long time since I've seen Anne and Geoff,
35:12and they have been through the mill in that time.
35:15But now, having existed on paper for so long,
35:19the garden is coming alive, and I can't wait to see what the reality is.
35:28Wow!
35:30Look at that!
35:31You like it?
35:32Look at your garden!
35:33It's enormous, isn't it?
35:34It's massive!
35:38You've got, you know, the view becomes your garden as well.
35:42It kind of feels as if it's never-ending.
35:44That's fantastic.
35:45It is. You like it, yeah?
35:47No, my first impression is exciting.
35:51Oh, good!
35:52Things are shaping up really nicely,
35:54but most importantly, they've got the paperwork for the planning consent.
35:58You know, the best thing about this, it makes all of this,
36:01your fantastic pond, the sunken garden,
36:04everything else that has been such a struggle to achieve,
36:08it means you can enjoy it.
36:10It's all legit. It's all above board.
36:13Further down, they're going to move on to the next step,
36:16and that's going to be the planting.
36:18It's all legit. It's all above board.
36:21Further down, the pond has been dug out and lined.
36:25This is a great vantage point here, isn't it, to see what's been achieved,
36:29and in particular, to see the pond, which is fantastic.
36:34And when you stand here now and you look back,
36:36you'll look across a body of water and you'll see the house in the background,
36:40and it is very clever the way the sunken garden just disappears,
36:44and from here you can't see it.
36:46I think it is really, really exciting.
36:49With everything that's happened to Geoff and Anne in the last few months,
36:53I'm keen to try and get them actively involved in their project.
36:56So we get planting some trees for their new orchard
36:59at the bottom of their garden.
37:01How have things been, you know, in general?
37:03I mean, because the last few months have not been particularly easy, have they?
37:06No, I mean, pretty tough, primarily because there's just too much uncertainty.
37:11I was very, very sorry to hear about your mum as well, Geoff.
37:14I presume it would be at a time when you could most do
37:16with not having that kind of personal grief.
37:19It's another kind of slap, really, isn't it?
37:21Yeah, it was, because that was right.
37:23That happened the week where we had to decide,
37:25well, we hadn't even put the planning permission in,
37:27so everything was up in the air.
37:29That was a particularly bad, beginning of June, was a particularly bad time.
37:32But it feels as if this is now beginning to get to a point
37:35where it can be a bit more of a celebration.
37:38I hope so, because we haven't enjoyed.
37:40We thought when we were doing this house and doing the garden
37:43that it would have been a really enjoyable experience.
37:45And in fact, it's actually been, certainly this year,
37:49it's been almost like a sort of noose around our neck.
37:52So this one can go in over here.
37:56How big a hole am I digging?
37:58The same depth as the pot,
38:00but about half again is wired all the way round.
38:03And now is a pretty good time to plant them.
38:05Ten.
38:07Ten.
38:09There we go.
38:11Right, is that all right?
38:13Yeah, it's OK.
38:15I've enjoyed that. We've done something in the garden.
38:17That's great. We're a lot happier now.
38:20Yeah, things are gradually moving in the right directions
38:23and we do feel a lot happier.
38:28It's lovely to see.
38:32You know, I'm so used to sort of coming down here
38:35and not being in crisis meetings,
38:38and I'm kind of a little bit down on the whole experience
38:41of what should have been a great celebration.
38:44But they're happy. They're loving it.
38:46They're enjoying doing things
38:48that they've probably not ever done before,
38:50like planting trees together.
38:52Stuff for the future, which is great.
38:56It is great, but it's now the beginning of August,
38:59and if all had gone according to the original plan,
39:02they'd have been finished by now.
39:04And actually, there's a mountain to climb to finish this garden.
39:12Six weeks to finish this,
39:14which takes us to nearly the middle of September,
39:16and it has to be finished by then.
39:18The landscapers are creating the intricate deck construction
39:22out of African hardwood,
39:24which, as with everything in Ian's design, is not straightforward.
39:35And with all the hard landscaping nearly finished,
39:38they can finally bring in some plants.
39:50Are you enjoying this, Anne?
39:52I am. I am, actually.
39:56But even with all this progress,
39:58I'm not convinced Ian's going to make his new mid-September deadline.
40:05So you're feeling confident that you can deliver this in two weeks?
40:09I am, Matthew, feeling confident I'm going to deliver this.
40:12We, all nine of us, are going to deliver this in two weeks, yes.
40:20It's a long way off being finished.
40:22What's happened is great, and there's some fantastic stuff,
40:25and I'm loving the detail that's going in,
40:27but there is a massive amount of work now to do in, what, a couple of weeks?
40:31And I can't see how it's going to be done.
40:34I wouldn't put my house on it, that's for sure.
40:42Anne and Geoff Shaw have been through one of the toughest years of their lives
40:47whilst trying to create their dream landscape in Sussex.
40:50This has been an unbelievable project.
40:52I mean, it's been on and off and on and off for months.
40:55It's been a roller coaster, and everyone has been under pressure.
40:58But Ian made a promise to deliver a garden for Anne and Geoff.
41:02I hope for everybody's sake that he's managed to do it.
41:07It's been ten months since my first visit,
41:10and as I approach the entrance, I'm delighted to see the changes.
41:19Stone paths bordered with ferns and woodland plants
41:22lie under a canopy of massive trees.
41:25It's understated and gives a warm, cosy feel to the entrance to this house.
41:30This is lovely, isn't it? It's like a little magical woodland by your front door.
41:34It's very nice.
41:35Well, you haven't seen anything yet.
41:37Look at you, you're really excited, aren't you?
41:39We are.
41:40This is great.
41:41We are really excited.
41:42We're very excited.
41:43Are you?
41:44We are.
41:45Show me more.
41:46Show me the reason for this excitement.
41:49It's at the front of the house that I can't wait to see the transformation.
41:53As this was overgrown and rubble-filled, an embarrassment really,
41:57it's now something very different indeed.
42:06Wow! Look at that.
42:09That is very, very good.
42:12You like it?
42:13Yeah, that really is impressive.
42:15You like it?
42:16Yeah, that really is impressive.
42:17That's impressive, isn't it?
42:18It's fantastic.
42:20It really is.
42:21I can see why you're so excited and so happy,
42:23because it is a dramatic transformation,
42:25but also it just looks right, doesn't it?
42:28It looks as if it belongs here.
42:30This is very, very exciting, I have to say.
42:33So it is quite glamorous in a way, isn't it, this part?
42:36It's very glamorous.
42:38It's befitting of you, Anne and Jack, definitely.
42:40Oh, thank you so much.
42:46The sunken garden is a total success, beautifully designed and crafted.
42:52The modern curves are softened by the use of traditional limestone and flint,
42:58and it blends remarkably well with the 18th-century house.
43:02Has it achieved what you hoped it would achieve?
43:04Oh, definitely, more, much more than I thought.
43:07And once all these plants are lovely and colourful, it'll be amazing.
43:11But having said that, another part of the garden is now my favourite.
43:14Is it?
43:16Beyond the sunken garden was the criminally misplaced, wretched tennis court.
43:22In its place now sits the masterstroke of this whole design.
43:28Well, that is very impressive.
43:31Isn't it? It's very impressive indeed.
43:33Are you happy with it?
43:35Amazing, I love it.
43:37Isn't it? I know.
43:39This is our favourite part, isn't it?
43:41Yes, it is.
43:43It's the most beautiful part of the garden, isn't it?
43:45Yes, it is.
43:47It's the most beautiful part of the garden, isn't it?
43:49Yes, it is.
43:51It's the most beautiful part of the garden, isn't it?
43:53It is.
43:55I know. This is our favourite place now.
43:58Is it? This is the place.
44:02I love the way the deck floats over the water.
44:04Very, very pleasing, isn't it?
44:06We couldn't have imagined it to have been any better than it is, could we?
44:08No.
44:09Well, I knew it was going to be great, but this is really fantastic.
44:13It's just everything we wanted, everything we dreamt of, I guess.
44:18Their struggle with planning and budgetary difficulties
44:21has yielded a simpler yet more powerful design.
44:25What they've ended up with is a garden which has a heart at the centre of it
44:30and that celebrates the landscape beyond.
44:34Well, who'd have thought that we'd be sitting here
44:37in your beautiful tennis court?
44:40Yes, this is wonderful.
44:42Exactly, right on the net.
44:44Tell me about how you feel about the garden.
44:46One word. I think, speechless, it is just far better than we'd ever imagined.
44:51I think it's been such an emotional rollercoaster, the garden,
44:56but I think it really hit us...
44:59It was just a couple of days ago when the pond was filled up
45:02and the planting all had been done,
45:04and we stood here and I was in tears because I just thought...
45:11Excuse me. I just thought I'd never have a garden so lovely.
45:16Setting me off now.
45:19Setting me off as well.
45:22You've waited a long time for this, haven't you?
45:25By no stretch of the imagination, has this been an easy process?
45:31I don't think it's just the process.
45:33It has been very emotional and we've had down times
45:38where we genuinely did think we were just going to have to grasp the whole thing
45:43because we can't afford this.
45:45Looking at the garden now, right choice, going with Ian?
45:50Yes, definitely.
45:52Well, I think it's been a great experience.
45:55Looking at the garden now, right choice, going with Ian?
45:59Yes, definitely.
46:01I'm very happy.
46:03Are you proud of the garden?
46:06Yeah.
46:08Very proud. Extremely.
46:10We feel proud that we've not only created a fantastic garden,
46:13we've put it in a fantastic setting with a fantastic house
46:16and created the finished article.
46:22It has been an incredible journey.
46:24There have been times when they've just felt at the absolute depths of despair.
46:29Financially, emotionally, really down in the dumps.
46:35So actually what needed to happen was there needed to be an act of faith, really.
46:40And that's really what this garden is all about.
46:43It's an act of faith.
46:45It's the fact that they invested their faith in Ian, their designer,
46:50and Ian repaid them by delivering their dreams.
46:57And it is a dream. It's wonderful.
47:00Next time, a young family go head-to-head with nature in the heart of rural Wales.
47:05This is what it's like when the wind kicks off. It can knock you over.
47:08Three, two, one, dig in!
47:11The pipes in the caravan burst.
47:14What the hell is that?
47:16It's just mess everywhere.
47:18I'm truly inspired by this place.
47:20For more information on the show, please visit channel4.com.
47:34From the landscape man to the restoration man tonight
47:37on four Georgies going both medievally and mansionally at nine.
47:41Grubs up before that, though, four nights in Nottingham.
47:44Come dine with me, next.
47:48www.channel4.com