BBC Radio Kent's Andy Garland

64 Pages·2017·14.45 MB·English

FREE
Spring 2017
Raise money by
WALKING
IN THE
WOODS
Over the
BEESOTTED!
garden fence with
Turning honey
BBC Radio Kent’s into a hobby
Andy Garland
Theatre (cid:129) Homes & Gardens (cid:129) Walks (cid:129) Good Food

Contents LMiidv Kenit ng
14 24
Covering the
Mid Kent area
Mid Kent Living is published every
three months with a free circulation
in Maidstone, Medway, Tunbridge
Wells, Tonbridge and Malling, Ashford
and Sittingbourne. It is available at
selected pick-up points throughout
18 the area including major
supermarkets.
Subscription copies are posted
(£8 annually).
32
The team
Mid Kent Living is published by
Mail Publications Ltd
(which also publishes the
20 Downs Mail newspaper),
Forge House, Bearsted Green
Business Park, Bearsted,
Maidstone, ME14 4DT.
Tel: [phone]
email [email protected]
www.downsmail.co.uk
Interview Leisure & Tourism Lifestyle
7-9 Personality Profile - 20-21 Tourist Profile - 32-35 Good Food
BBC Radio Kent’s Andy Garland Across the border into 1066
36-37 Mind, body & soul
Country
Editor's Choice 38-41 Senior living
24 Gardens to Visit -
Goodnestone Park Gardens 42-53 Property, homes & gardens
11-18 A selection of hand-picked
events and great days out 27 Walks - 54-59 Sales & Services
around the county throughout Walking for Charity
60-61 Motoring
the spring months
28 Hobby Focus - Beekeeping
62 Competitions
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4Mid Kent Living
Editor’s
Letter
The snowdrops, which carpeted Robin Hood-themed walking performances at Leeds Castle this
the highways, by-ways, gardens Easter or a modern take on the classic tale, Cinderella, at the
and parks of Kent, have long Hazlitt Theatre.
faded and given way to glorious daffodils and crocuses – heralding Both are on the doorstep and well worth the effort to go and see.
the new season.
We hop across the Kent border into 1066 country, where history-
By mid-May, when the trees are covered in leaves once more, lovers will find themselves steeped in the Battle of Hastings story.
bursting with life and vitality, winter will be a dim and distant
Former police officer Dave West gives us an insight into how to
memory.
stay healthy and fulfilled in “retirement” – in his case, long walks
At this time, I am always reminded of the first line of The Trees on the golf course and working
by Philip Larkin: “The trees are coming into leaf, like something as a handyman.
almost being said.”
Getting active and supporting
It’s time to throw open the doors and windows, tidy up the a good cause is also the theme
garden and make plans for the longer days and warmer weather. of our feature on this year’s
As ever, Mid Kent Living is brim-full of ideas to get spring going. walks for charity.
In this issue, we get a peek into the world of Andy Garland, BBC
Radio Kent’s popular gardening presenter. Writer Dawn Kingsford
All the best.
learns about his love of surfing and troubles in growing pumpkins.
Now that spring has arrived, our local theatres have also sprung
Simon
into action, with some amazing acts on offer, not least open-air
Simon Finlay, Editor
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6Mid Kent Living
Personality profile (cid:2)
GARDENING
– It’s the circle of life
that I love
Dawn Kingsford grabbed some “off-air” time with BBC garden show
host Andy Garland ahead of the start of the show’s busiest season...
Few of us share our Sunday morning He took the programme on as a in spite of his much-loved mum, Ruth,
with a bacon butty and an audience of complete garden novice, but like many asking if he’s ever going to get a proper
70,000 people – but it’s all in a day’s newcomers he has been hooked by job.
work for Radio Kent’s Andy Garland. horticulture and has just completed two
That awakening was enough for him
Along with his garden gurus, Jean RHS-accredited training courses at
to make the move to Kent to study
Griffin and Steve Bradley, he has been Hadlow College.
radio, film and TV with sports science at
in the horticultural hot seat answering It’s a far cry from his childhood in
Christ Church College, where he earned
our questions from 8am every Sunday Plymouth, where he was the youngest
a first class BA (hons). He remembers
for the last 10 years. by far of four children, with a love of the
arriving in Canterbury and seeing the
While he has been a part of the Radio coast. His father, who died of a heart
Kent team for nearly 21 years, during attack when Andy was eight, was in the
which time he has hosted every slot Navy, and his uncles beguiled him with
from Breakfast to Drive Time, he war-time tales. However, a term with
confesses that at just 45 he is one of Radio Devon’s youth posse was enough
the “old hands” at the station and to turn his fancy from the sea to the
delights in having propagated many a airwaves.
new talent. He remembers: “It was one Sunday
In fact it’s his second stint hosting the night and the red light was on and we
station’s most-listened-to garden show, were playing some great records and I
having taken the helm for two years in realised that it made me feel so happy
the 1990s, when, he remembers, his and energised. It was an epiphany for
first show was shelved, owing to the me.”
death of Princess Diana. And it is a feeling that has endured –
Mid Kent Living 7
ornate gate to Kings School
and its cathedral and
proclaiming: “I could spend
the next three years of my
life here.”
And while he misses his
friends – and his surfing –he
has never wanted to leave.
It was at college that he
met Lucy, his wife of 12 years,
who also works for the BBC,
and they moved in together
in Sevenoaks. The couple now
have two beautiful “ballet-
mad” daughters, Martha (10)
and Isabelle (seven) with
whom they share what they
believe will be their “forever
home” in West Malling.
Andy says: “It has a big
garden and a giant oak,
which often features in the
show because it has 800,000
leaves – every one of which
I’ve raked up over the years.”
It is this humour that he
brings to his show, with the
thrifty team of three full of
ideas on how to save money
by propagating, gifting and
throwing a life-line to plants
stranded on the discount
shelves.
Andy adds: “Jean and Steve
are the experts and I try to
present the show as a family
affair. In fact, we’ve proved
very able at solving marital
disputes between “head
gardeners” and “under
gardeners” (usually the
men) who call in!”
In a typical show, the trio
tackle questions from
FACT FILE
more than three dozen
1971: Born, Plymouth callers, with texts from as
1982: Debuts as DJ at youth club The Cellar far afield as France and
Club in hometown of Holsworthy, Devon, America, courtesy of the web.
playing mainly Two Tone records However, the gift of radio
1986: Starts surfing at Widemouth Bay, Bude, Cornwall – his favourite hobby means he can lead a very
1989: Sets up mobile disco business The Surf Style Roadshow normal existence, socialising
1993-1996: Studies Radio, Film, Television and Sport Science at Canterbury Christ in West Malling, surfing in
Church University Cornwall and enjoying
1994: Joins Radio Kent as a Broadcast Assistant, working with the sports team on regular family holidays in
Saturdays Norfolk.
1995: Presents youth show The Alternative He does, however, use his
1997: First gardening show on Radio Kent is shelved as Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in notoriety to promote good
Paris causes which, for him,
1999-2003: Studies for a Masters in Media Management at the University of Leeds include encouraging children
1999: Becomes Broadcast Journalist at Radio Kent, hosting the afternoon show to read and gardening
2004:Promoted to Senior Broadcast Journalist projects at schools and
2007: Returns to the gardening show health centres, like that at
2010: Show named Gardening World’s Favourite Local Radio Gardening Programme Charing GP surgery where
gardening is being used to
2014: Becomes a trustee of Great Comp Garden, St Mary’s Platt near Borough Green
8Mid Kent Living
Favourite guest:John Cleese.
Hosted an Audience With at the
Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury in
2015. “I performed a sketch with
my comedy hero on stage in front
of 1,000 people. It doesn’t get
better than that.”
Least successful interview:Wilko
Johnson from Dr Feelgood. “It was a
Saturday morning and probably too
early for him. He was monosyllabic
so I asked if he wanted to be here
and he replied in the negative and
put the phone down.”
Broadcasting hero:Eddie Mair
from Radio 4. “He is razor sharp,
every word counts and uses audio
brilliantly.”
Biggest influence on career:
“Paul Hopper gave me my first
break. He was on Radio Devon and
I was helping on the show. When he
went on paternity leave, I hosted two
treat loneliness and depression. He is hand on heart, love coming to work; of his weekly shows and I knew then
also a trustee of Great Comp at Borough and as long as that remains the case I that this was what I wanted to do.”
Green and is passionate about water will be more than happy to continue.” Most embarrassing moment on air:
safety, after his elder sister died at 17 on He adds: “My time on the gardening “I had a Brian Johnson moment and
a family outing to the coast that went programme has introduced me to so got an attack of the giggles when
tragically wrong. many different issues and wonderful Steve Bradley on the gardening
Andy says: “I suppose I’ve learned that people. Gardeners are extremely show gave the Latin name for
life is short and it’s important to have sociable people, always ready to give varieties of ghost brambles. They
fun, and that’s why I love my job you a cutting, their overspill of tomatoes end in “anus”.
because it opens doors, allows you to and are so keen to share their Time when you’ve been star-struck:
learn and you meet fantastic people.” knowledge, which I’m now passing on to “Interviewing former Army chief Sir
The day we met at the BBC Radio Kent my daughters as my dad and grandad Peter de la Billière at the Folkestone
studios in Tunbridge Wells he was did to me … it’s like the circle of life.” Literary Festival was interesting,
fascinating and challenging.”
sporting a spray tan (research for a Some of his new-found friends in Kent
report on the changing habits of men’s include head gardeners from some of Person you’d most like to interview
on air:“I am a big Monty Python fan
grooming, he tells me) and said: “I pinch the grandest estates, including Tom Hart
and have interviewed John Cleese
myself every day that I have a job in Dyke at Lullingstone Castle, and Paul
and Terry Jones. I would love to chat
radio. It’s something many people dream Bradshaw, who is featured in our
with Eric Idle and Michael Palin.”
of and I realise how lucky I am. gardening article in this issue.
Flowers, vegetables or fruit?:
“There can be very few people who, Andy says: “Gardeners in Kent are so
“Fruit. I have a mini-orchard with
lucky that they have so
the apple and pear trees trained to
many fantastic gardens to
a fence. I learned from John Easton
visit, and we get calls from
who runs short courses at East
amateurs to professionals
Malling Horticultural Trust.”
all offering fantastic advice
Worst thing about gardening:
and suggestions for places
“Growing pumpkins. I just can’t do
to visit and ideas to try,
it and my girls would love me to but
which is great at this time
they only come up the size of tennis
of the year as the season
balls.”
really gets underway.
Your Number one tip: “Do with
“Although it’s an all-year-
your garden what you want to do
round preoccupation for
with it. If it’s growing fruit, having
most of us, as the spring gnomes, 50 hanging baskets or just
approaches the volume of lots of dahlias then fine. It’s your
calls we receive physically space – enjoy it.”
Leeds Castle Festival of Flowers
grows and grows.”
Images ©Andy Garland Mid Kent Living 9
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10Mid Kent Living