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Set in the foothills of the English Pennines, this is home.

In total there’s just under one acre of sloping, predominantly clay, ground (not all of it is visible in this aerial shot). And at 700 feet above sea level, it gets its fair share of changeable weather. The front of the house faces due south. We moved here from London over 25 years ago where we had a typical suburban garden; about the size of a Kleenex, so getting serious about gardening became a necessity.

There is a large conservatory on the north side of the house, which is used for over-wintering the delicate plants that cannot be found room in either of the greenhouses. My love of tropicals means I need all the winter storage I can find – but more of that later.

I suppose my interest in gardening was fostered by my mother, who was a keen, if traditional, gardener. Nothing exotic, just hardy annuals, roses and the like. My interest in tropicals started after my wife, Jeanette, and I had a holiday on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Its nickname is the Garden in the Atlantic and it is well named with so many varieties of tropical and sub-tropical plants growing in such profusion. That is what sparked my interest but, of course, it has been pure arrogance on my part to think I could grow them in our north European climate; which is where the greenhouses come in. The large one is mine and is kept at a minimum of 70f all year round. In summer, most of the plants can go outside but in winter it does get a bit crowded in there.

Jeanette is the outdoor gardener and is into vegetables (for the table, of course), and a whole range of annuals. She has a particular penchant for sweet peas but also likes to have geraniums and marigolds. So the smaller greenhouse is hers and is just kept frost free in winter. It is ideal for over-wintering the slightly tender perennials and making an early start on sowing seeds in spring.

We share the workload, though probably not very equally. I mow the lawns, prune the trees and generally try to keep the unwanted aspects of nature at bay. Jeanette does the digging, weeding and supervises the mowing of the lawns, pruning of the trees etc.. !!

I like to think it is a wildlife friendly garden, although with four cats, who love to bring their trophies home each night, I doubt some of the smaller rodents would agree. We have a colony of rooks living in the massive sycamore trees at the back of the property, a habitat that also provides home for a large tribe of grey squirrels. They haven’t had the courage to take on these tree rats (as they are commonly known) and cannot work out how they manage to hang upside down on the trunk of a tree without actually falling into their open clutches.

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