#nickhamilton

Inspiring People. Nick Hamilton

/ karen / 8 Comments

Continuing my series on inspiring people in horticulture, this week, I’m focusing on Nick Hamilton, son of TV gardener Geoff Hamilton.

Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland were originally created by all-round horticulturist and writer Geoff Hamilton. Geoff made a guest appearance on the BBC Gardeners’ World programme in the 1970s and made such an impression on viewers that he was given a regular slot. He joined the team in 1979 and hosted the programme for 17 years.

Photo credit: Barnsdale Gardens/ Steve Hamilton

Geoff originally broadcast from a two acre site overlooking Rutland Water, but in 1983 he bought a Victorian farmhouse and five acres of land. He called it Barnsdale and viewers tuned in at 8.30pm every Friday night to see Geoff’s latest gardening projects.

Photo credit: Barnsdale Gardens/ Steve Hamilton

My parents sat and watched the programme as mum was, and still is, a very keen gardener. Dad knew that whatever Geoff was fashioning out of bits of wood and odds and ends, he too would be making something similar that weekend. Whatever mum wanted, dad was able to make it. Geoff made gardening affordable and fun, and dad was only too pleased to be able to make something so mum could enjoy her garden. Garden benches, bird tables, raised beds and multiple fish ponds, one with a waterfall, were all constructed for next to nothing.

Inspiration at Barnsdale. Home-made herb garden coffee table and bench, and plant support with a plumbing ball cock providing the finial on the top.

It was while filming his Paradise Garden series that Geoff had his first heart attack. That was in June 1995. In August the next year, Geoff suffered a fatal heart attack during a charity cycle ride in Wales.

The question of what would happen to Geoff’s garden fell to his middle son Nick to answer. Nick says, very honestly, that Geoff left the legacy of the garden, but there was never any money to go with that inheritance. And the gardens were not initially in any condition to open to the public. They were always created for the television programme and the cameras would focus in one one area at a time.

Nick in the Cottage Garden, built as the main show garden at the first Gardeners’ World Live in 1993. The feature was created by Dan Pearson and recreated at Barnsdale following the show.

Nick and a small team of gardeners crammed two years worth of work into the next eight months and opened for the first time on 19th April, 1997. Since then, the money generated from visitors has been reinvested in the garden and its facilities to ensure that Geoff’s ethos to educate, inspire and entertain continues.

Nick and his team work tirelessly to maintain and improve the 38 individual gardens. Some of the names of the gardens give an idea of the range of plots to view. There’s the Modern Estate Garden, Artisan’s Cottage Garden, Stream and Bog Garden, Wildlife Garden, and Children’s Garden and Allotments. There’s even a garden inspired by Versailles.

Planting ideas. Structure and colour in the Reclaimed Garden
The Reclaimed Garden was made almost entirely from recycled materials. Raised beds were made from railway sleepers and the pergola was made from old oak roofing timbers. The water feature was created from an old immersion heater.

My favourite is the Town Paradise Garden, a walled plot with a conservatory full of pelargoniums, a lion head wall water feature, a rill and beautifully planted lily pond.

Sitting in the summerhouse, overlooking the pond and rill.
Bog and border planting in the Town Paradise Garden
Scented roses in the Town Paradise Garden

Nick says a garden should not stand still but keep on evolving. There are new gardens and many updated features. Gardening is still undertaken on the organic principles Geoff promoted, and there are a huge range of courses, talks and demonstrations on all aspects of gardening.

Nick in the Allotment Garden/ vegetable plot

Here are a few highlights this summer.


Fairy Trail -Throughout July & August 9am – 5pm

Children are very much welcome at Barnsdale Gardens. They can hunt for fairy doors, find tiny fairy houses and mischievous ‘fairies’ tucked away around the gardens. Follow the clues, solve the fairy riddles, uncover their secret messages and make a special wish at the wishing tree.

Cottage Gardens – 12th July 12pm – 4pm

Nick Hamilton, President of the Cottage Garden Society, will give a series of informal garden walks highlighting the history behind Barnsdale’s cottage gardens. You can learn about the must-have plants that bring this much-loved style of gardening to life.

Artists in the Gardens – 12th July 11am – 3pm

Watch talented artists take inspiration from the gardens. Visitors can watch live painting, sketching and other artistic techniques while exploring Barnsdale’s gardens.

Live Music – 26th July 12pm – 4pm

Award-winning duo Annie Duggan and Rob Hines provide music in the garden with a mix of Americana, Jazz, Blues and Roots – the perfect soundtrack for a summer’s day in the garden.

Nursery Walk & Talk: ‘Top Plants for Our Changing Climate’ – 31st July 11:30am – 11:50am

Join Barnsdale’s Emma for a 20-minute walk and talk exploring plants that thrive in drier conditions and changing weather. Visitors attending the session will also receive exclusive plant discounts on the day.

Barnsdale’s Question Forum – 19th July 11:30am & 2:30pm

Following the success of last year’s event, Barnsdale’s Question Forum returns, bringing together a panel of gardening experts, including Nick Hamilton, vegetable expert Susie Watson, and Head Gardener Jon Brocklebank.

Visitors are invited to bring along their gardening queries and enjoy an entertaining and informative question-and-answer session packed with expert advice, handy tips and plenty of inspiration.

Lands’ End, seaside retreat. Photo copyright: Steve Hamilton

Nick Hamilton’s grow-your-own vegetables hints and top tips.

/ karen / 4 Comments

While visiting Barnsdale Gardens for the winter walk-and-talk, I had a chance to peek into the impressive kitchen gardens. Not only are the gardens beautiful, but they are highly productive too. They are gardened organically. Plants are put in closely together, and there are many little pathways meaning a lot of the work can be undertaken without stepping on the soil. Nick is a very good teacher. He explains everything in an easy to understand way with a lot of patience and humour.

Photo: Steve Hamilton

Nick shared with me his advice and list of ‘top five’ winter vegetables:

Brussels sprouts – Generally eaten over the Christmas period, but if you grow your own then you could harvest this vegetable from August to at least March. As a child, I remember them as having a bit of a bitter, old socks taste, but those days are well and truly gone with the modern varieties being sweet and flavoursome. In order to get the continuity of cropping to give the longest harvest period I only need to grow two varieties, ‘Nelson’ and ‘Red Ball’.

Kale – A well-known superfood that not only gives us something to eat but, if you select the right variety, a very beautiful and interesting addition to the ornamental winter garden. I like to grow a variety called ‘Redbor’, which is widely available, but I do not grow it in the veg plot, preferring instead to move it around my ornamental borders. The reason I do this is because ‘Redbor’ has the most wonderfully deep coloured, red leaves that enhance in colour with the colder winter temperature, but then are elevated to another level during frosty weather.

My green kale. I’m growing the red variety for this winter.

Chard – A hardy, leafy leaf beet this is an excellent substitute for spinach. I have been bought up to try and eke out the most from everything in a garden, so choosing a variety that gives ornamental interest as well as excellent production is an absolute bonus. Such a variety is Chard ‘Bright Lights’, which comes up as a mixture of different colours of leaves in shades of yellow, green and red, all with a prominent white mid-rib.

Jerusalem Artichoke – What a fantastic winter veg to grow! I love it not just because it is adaptable in the kitchen but also because it is a tuber that is perfectly hardy, so can be left in the ground all winter and dug up as and when required. I grow a variety called Fuseau because it is less knobbly than others, so easier to peel. It does like to spread, so I control it by growing mine in containers that I sink into the ground and then lift when needed.

Leeks – I can’t imagine a winter without leeks adorning the culinary delights that appear from my kitchen. This year I have grown the varieties ‘Winner’, ‘Pandora’ and ‘Jolant’, which will give me a continuous harvest from August until April. Something my taste buds and stomach are very grateful for. We do have a couple of problems to deal with however, which is why we grow them, from sowing until the end of the crop, under an insect-proof netting to prevent attack by leek moth and/or Allium leaf miner.

Barnsdale Gardens is Britain’s largest collection of individually designed gardens based in the East Midlands.  There are 38 gardens on show including the beautiful kitchen gardens. Courses run throughout the year on growing and planting fruit, flowers and vegetables, and there’s also courses on pruning and maintenance. See the website for opening times and course details. I’ve signed up for the newsletter which means I get all the news first and can plan my visits when there are special events happening.

I wrote about a Barnsdale’s winter gardens walk and talk here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2024/02/28/a-winter-walk-around-barnsdale-gardens/

What vegetables are you planning to grow?

I’m loving my white-stemmed chard and white kale. Here’s some I’m harvesting now, having sown the seeds in summer and planted them in a cold frame and unheated poly tunnel. They overwinter as small plants and start growing after Christmas. You can just see two eggs in the basket too. The hens have started to lay again! A sure sign that spring is well and truly on the way. Hurray!

Sweet, tasty, and pretty too!