Where the grass is always greener...
THE turf may look as lush as Wembley, but the last thing anyone is allowed to do on Britain’s best lawn is play football.
Keen gardener Stuart Grindle, 74, is so proud of his pristine patch he cuts the grass twice a day.
His son Jonathan, 45, still recalls being barred from having a garden kick-about with childhood friends.
And the only way long-suffering wife Anne, 74, can prise Stuart away from his beloved lawn is by ringing a bell to alert him that his dinner is on the table.
Retired joiner Stuart, of Tickhill, Doncaster, says the 30 hours a week he spends tending the lawn has been worth it after winning first prize in a competition run by gardening supply firm Ego Power.
“The lawn is my pride and joy,” he said. “It has been a labour of love for over 40 years. My wife is always telling me it’s time to stop but it needs cutting twice daily six times a week.
“I cut it in two directions because it gives it a finer finish. I even cut through the winter months.”
Former nurse Anne, his wife of 50 years, said: “He has always spent a lot of time on the lawn but it has become an obsession over the past 13 years or so.
“All the neighbours know when our meal times are because he is always on his knees or lying flat and the only way I can get his attention is by ringing a loud bell. When I married him I never thought he’d have the patience to be a gardener but how wrong could I be.
“I remember Jonathan’s sixth birthday party and a friend saying, ‘Wow, it looks just like Wembley’. Stuart told him it might look like Wembley but that’s the closest a football would come to it. He whisked them off to the park instead.”
Stuart won a new lawnmower in the contest but still swears by the 1947 hand mower he got from a bowling green.
GARDENER Stuart Grindle is so devoted to his beloved grass that he mows it twice a day. He has been rewarded with the title of Britain’s best lawn. With dedication like this it’s no surprise his garden proved to be a cut above the competition.