With special permission from Her Majesty The Queen, Alan Titchmarsh spent a whole year exploring the deepest secrets of a hidden royal treasure: the Buckingham Palace Garden. He discovered a wonderland with a five century history; an urban oasis of wildlife where the Queen grew up; and a 'living museum' where almost every plant has a royal story to tell. Picture: OXFORD SCIENTIFIC
Spring scene over looking the lake toward Buckingham Palace from the gardenPicture: OXFORD SCIENTIFIC
The Queen’s Garden. shown on BBC One; Commentary and Review from The Telegraph:
Perfect television for the post-lunch slump, as warm and cosy as Alan Titchmarsh’s tank top. His promise to unearth “the deepest secrets of this hidden royal treasure” didn’t turn out to be quite so dramatic – the presence of a hallucinogenic toadstool not quite living up to the recent tabloid headline “Her Maj’s Magic Mushrooms!” – but the little details were a delight.
The Queen grows her own poinsettias. Her rose garden smells of garlic, used as an environmentally friendly alternative to pesticide. The Palace also has its own beehives.
With permission to film for a year, this was an undoubted coup for ITV. I waited in vain, however, to glimpse the Queen doing a spot of deadheading, or the Duke of Edinburgh roaring by on a ride-on lawnmower. Still, it’s a two-part special, so they might be saving the royal cameos for this Sunday’s episode. Click link for full post from The Telegraph.