INSPIRE
©BBC/Remarkable TV/Gary Moyes
YOUR GARDEN O
n Thursday 4 February, BBC Two provided a nation with a newfound appreciation of their gardens and greens spaces with Your Garden Made Perfect. But we’ve seen these garden makeover shows before, so how is this different? Well, if the VR technology – used for the first time in a show of this type – isn’t enough, Your Garden Made Perfect avoids many pitfalls which other shows all too often fall into. Firstly, it presents a part of our industry in a way that’s never really been seen before. We’re used to the breathtaking transformations that give other garden makeover shows the wowfactor, but what the public has never really been privy to is the extent of the garden designer’s process. “When it first landed on my desk, I thought it was going to be just another garden makeover show,” one of the show’s garden designers, Helen Elks-Smith, says. “But the intention of the producers was to have the
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WE SPEAK TO THE GARDEN DESIGNERS INVOLVED IN BBC TWO’S YOUR GARDEN MADE PERFECT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHY ITS DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER GARDEN MAKEOVER SHOW WE’VE SEEN BEFORE
M A D E P E R F EC T
design front and centre – that’s very different from what’s gone before.” Another of the show’s garden designers Manoj Malde adds: “It also deals with how the designer has to connect with the client and the garden – what questions are being asked, how we take inspiration from the home, how we analyse the space and break it down. We are showing the viewer, this is what it actually entails to have your garden designed properly and professionally. There’s no other garden show that competes with that.” Each week, two garden designers visit a typically underutilised and run-down garden which the homeowners don’t know what to do with. But this show leads from the garden designer’s perspective, as two competing professionals meet the homeowners, understand the problems of the space, and find out what it is they want out of it. The garden designers then present their ideas using the VR technology, leaving the homeowners to pick their favourite as the old garden is stripped away and the new design lands in its place. “A lot of the time, when I turn up to a client’s home,
they have no idea what’s going to happen or how it works,” explains Pip Probert, another of the show’s garden designers. “The show does a really good job of introducing everyday people into the world of design.”
WE ARE SHOWING THE VIEWER, THIS IS WHAT IT ACTUALLY ENTAILS TO HAVE YOUR GARDEN DESIGNED PROPERLY AND PROFESSIONALLY. THERE’S NO OTHER GARDEN SHOW THAT COMPETES WITH THAT MAN OJ M A L D E
Whilst doing this, the show also side-steps the issue of viewers believing the gardens being shown are completely out of their reach – or, potentially more damaging, are a lot cheaper than they actually are. “A lot of home improvement shows, particularly garden-orientated shows, give a false or unrealistic impression of the costs involved,”
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18/02/2021 09:04