MY FAVOURITE VIEW
TV garden designer Diarmuid Gavin reflects on drinking in the autumn colour of the breathtaking woodland and fields in the Malvern Hills
For TV garden designer
Diarmuid Gavin, taking in the breathtaking views commanded by the Malvern Hills is hard to beat
When you are driving through the Malvern Hills you see the most spectacular views. It is almost fairy-tale like in terms of the winding roads going up through the trees before opening up on to pastureland and the lovely town of Malvern.
Malvern itself is full of antique shops and people that are relaxed, having a good time, going to the theatre and art galleries, buying paintings and old furniture.
I particularly love the area in autumn when you are greeted by all the colours you would expect from deciduous trees. You’re surrounded by a really gorgeous forest, but looking down on a bucolic landscape. In Ireland most of our forests are conifers, so to see all the vibrant colours of the season glistening over the Malvern Hills really is heaven. It’s quiet up there too and there’s plenty of hiking through the woodlands. Then you’ve got the tapestry of fields flattening out below. It’s amazing and you can see for miles.
I always associate the Malvern Hills with the Three Counties Showground and the excitement of the RHS shows. For me, it’s the epitome of Englishness. It’s where so many people come to be together. It’s a place that gathers up people to enjoy life.
When I became known for doing gardens and making television programmes, I would go every year to Malvern to give talks at the RHS Flower Show. My dad used to come over with me from Dublin, so he was able to see me on stage in the country where he had lived for five years – it was a really lovely thing.
We’d stay in a big country hotel, The Abbey in Great Malvern, where hundreds of visitors to the show would stay and there was a real atmosphere of quaintness, fun and gentility. All of that reminds me of the hills of Malvern and its inherent beauty.
For a long time it was a trip I’d take once a year, but in recent times I haven’t been as much. It’s a place that, if I was in England and I was anywhere near it, I would make the journey to visit. For me, it’s a landscape to drink in and refresh.
Listen to DIRT with Diarmuid Gavin and Paul Smyth, on all podcast streaming platforms now.