This couple have spent 22 years creating one of the greatest domestic gardens in Yorkshire

After toiling all day at it, you’d think he would’ve had enough of weeding, feeding, planting, pest control, designing and redesigning but no, he carried on during the evenings, weekends and holidays at home.

“I became obsessed with gardening at the age of four. I enjoy it and I still live and breathe it,” says Robert, who recently took early retirement and adds: “Retiring has been fantastic because it means I can spend more time gardening and also enjoying the garden.”

Love again gave him a helping hand in the form of his long time partner Jarrod, an accountant, who helped finance the projects and the cost of buying more land, while pitching in to help, where permitted.

Their large “patch” includes a front garden with small woodland area, a formal garden, side ornamental garden of mixed herbaceous perennials, shrubs and feature trees, a kitchen garden, orchard area and five acres of meadow grass planted with various indigenous trees and Norwegian Spruce.

“I help where I can, doing jobs like clearing the hedge trimmings but I have to be supervised because Robert is a perfectionist,” laughs Jarrod.

More love, indeed outpourings of it, followed when the couple opened Linden Lodge, their rural home near Wilberfoss, to help raise money for charities, including the National Garden Scheme, which funds other charities, supports and trains gardeners and gives community garden grants.

Altogether, Robert and Jarrod have raised over £50,000 for the NGS over the years whilst also opening up their garden to raise money for other good causes. However, later this summer, the curtain will come down on their last NGS Open Gardens for the general public.

They are open on August 11 and September 15, 2023, from 11am to 4pm as an NGS Open Garden but next year will only be taking part in the NGS gardens by arrangement for groups of 20 or more.

“We had over 300 visitors over the last weekend we did for the NGS Open Gardens and we have had up to 450 people in the past. We enjoy it but it’s hard to know how many guests to cater for and it is very tiring so we have decided to call that a day after the August and September events,” says Jarrod.

“I have enjoyed sharing our garden with people and we have had some lovely comments,” adds Robert, 59, who recently retired early after almost 30 years at York St John’s University.

Needless to say, his free time will not be spent in an armchair with pipe and slippers. Instead, he is relishing spending even more time working in the garden.

Much has changed since he first shook hands with a spade and largely for the better in terms of the environment. He says: “When I started in the parks department in Doncaster in 1979, we had to reach for the chemical cupboard when it came to weeds and I was never happy about that so almost everything here is organic, though No Mow May makes me cry.

“I’m old-fashioned in that I like a striped lawn but I do use a Ransomes push mower for that so that’s eco-friendly.”

Altogether, Jarrod estimates they have spent £65,000 on the garden, including buying extra land, trees, structures, glasshouses and a ride-on mower. They recoup a little back for themselves and the Woodland Trust at an open weekend in December selling their Christmas trees.

Jarrod keeps a spreadsheet on what we have spent but there are things I buy for the garden that I don’t tell him about,” admits Robert. Jarrod laughs and there’s love again.

Along with lots of happy memories of opening their property to others, their garden was included in a book called Dream Gardens of England: 100 Inspirational Gardens. It is a keepsake they will treasure when they eventually downsize, possibly within the next five years.

“We are getting older, the garden takes a lot of time and Robert doesn’t like leaving it. We want more time to visit friends and family and see a bit more of the world,” says Jarrod.

Moving will also fulfil Robert’s ambition to create another garden but on a much smaller scale.

The last two NGS Open Gardens at Linden Lodge where there will be home grown plants for sale are on August 11 and September 15, 2023. For visits by arrangement for groups of 20 or more with funds going to the National Garden Scheme. email: [email protected]

For more garden details read the story online at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/homes-and-gardens