First shoots of success in garden restoration (From Western Telegraph)

First shoots of success in garden restoration

TANGLES of bramble, bolts of thistle and vistas of Himalayan knotweed are what greeted Chris Beardshaw when he first set foot in the former Victorian kitchen garden of Clynfyw in North Pembrokeshire.

The garden, created around 1850, once served the great house - one of several Victorian estates along the Teifi Valley - with vegetables, fruits and exotic fare all the year round.

But after almost 50 years of neglect, the weeds had taken over, the glass was mostly gone from the glasshouse and terraces were hidden beneath the tough growth.

In 'Hidden Gardens: Clynfyw' on Friday on BBC Two at 8 pm - and BBC Two Wales on Tuesday at 7.30 pm - Chris sets out with a willing band of volunteers to recreate what was once a plentiful patch.

Landowner Jim Lewis Bowen has handed over the walled space to the community on a 25-year lease on condition that the plot is gardened organically.

Led by Robert Taylor, the volunteers begin to strip the garden back, while Jim discovers clues to its origins in a series of ancient photographs, and a metal detecting club scours the ground, turning up dozens of Victorian plant tags showing varieties rarely still seen.

Chris ventures to Essex for helpful hints on what authentic old plants the community could grow. Audley End, which itself boasts a restored Victorian kitchen garden complete with enormous glasshouse, also has collections of seeds - some from varieties once thought to be extinct - which the Henry Doubleday research foundation harvests for its heritage seed library.

And they are happy to hand some over to Chris for the Clynfyw garden to ensure its authenticity.

With a couple of terraces cleared and planted, though still a haven for weeds, Clynfyw is slowly showing signs of how it may one day look.

And what better way to celebrate the first shoots of success than with a 1960s bottle of parsnip wine, made on site by Jim's grandfather from the garden's previous produce.