Communal Garden with Alan Titchmarsh, Croydon

‘Love your garden’ is a popular ITV television show presented by one of the countries best-loved horticulturalists Alan Titchmarsh. The TV show features teams of professionals renovating gardens to improve people’s standards of life by improving access and offering solutions so they can make the most of their outdoor space.

In August 2019 SureSet received a call from the Head Project Manager at Love Your Garden (Spun Gold TV) to see if we would be interested in getting involved in a project in association with Age UK. After gaining some initial plans and dates we were given the green light to go ahead and began working with the project planners discussing specifications and various aggregate choices.

Upon our initial site visit, we were greeted with a run-down, overgrown, under-loved, and unsightly concrete yard which featured narrow access paths and several sets of steps that would greatly restrict access.

The plan for the garden makeover was to remove the steps and create gentle ramp access, raised planter beds, and several quiet hideaways to allow the residents to sit and absorb the peace and tranquillity that the garden oozed.

As with any TV show project, the deadlines were extremely tight and during the installation week, the garden was a hive of activity with all companies involved pushing forward to create the perfect landscaped area. Alan Titchmarsh and his team David Domoney, Frances Tophill, and Katie Rushworth reunited their horticultural talents worked tirelessly installing the plants, erecting the summer house and gazebo, and of course, the film crew who were capturing them all in action as well as directly filming the presenters.

This made for some long days on-site, but the design team was extremely good at planning works to ensure our resin bound pathways could be safely installed and left to cure uninterrupted. Working long into the night the SureSet installation team exercised their patience and professionalism to ensure the 6mm Norwegian Bronze permeable paving was laid and able to cure to our high standards.

The finished garden offered everything it promised, the raised planters provides improved access for residents with restricted movement, the gazebo provides a refuge to sit and melt away into the surrounding flowers and the SureSet paving offers a smooth, hard-wearing accessible surface that allows users to easily navigate their way around the garden with ease and freedom.

The show will be aired on ITV Tuesday 17th March at 8 pm and will be available to view on the ITV player thereafter.

Love your garden was sponsored by Homebase.